Leading Double Lives
by Tsukisamu Sayako
Summary: In the year AC 197, Quatre Winner disappears. A year later, clues leading to Quatre appears and the secrets are revealed. GW/WK X-over. Quatre-centric. *Epilogue uploaded* (Don't need to know about WK) Yay! Finally! Epilogue's Out!!! Thanx for R/R!
1. Death and Rebirth

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Prologue – Death and Rebirth

               In the newest colony of the L4 cluster, people were rejoicing.  With the latest problem over, the people now prepared for an historical moment.  The artificial sky was blue and clear of clouds.  The countryside was golden with wheat fields and soft breezes passed through the crisp clean air on this beautiful morning.  All was quiet in the countryside; no one seemed to be working.  Yet, that would be so as this day were to be recorded in history.  Beyond the golden fields was a Victorian city.  The scene was simply breathtaking.  The city was quiet as well.  However, if you walk towards the main thoroughfare in the city, you would find hundreds of people lining up along the sidewalks waiting anxiously for an important figure to appear.  Whispers and murmurs permeated through the air and soon, a car appeared on the horizon.

               "He's coming!" someone cried and everyone looked towards the horizon, where an antique car headed towards the city.  Behind was a procession of black sedans and motorcycles.  As the procession came near, the crowd cheered.  Within the leading car was a platinum gold haired angel.  He stood up and waved to the crowd with a smile on his handsome face.  The crowd held up banners saying, "Welcome to Terence, Mr. Winner!" and "Winner Rules!"  The children looked at him with admiration and he smiled at them cheerfully.  Flags of the Winner Enterprise Inc. dotted the sidewalks and he felt proud for coming to this new city.  The procession stopped in front of a building in the center of the city, towering over all others.  A group of business people were already at the entrance of the building.  A podium was set up at the center of the staircase leading up to the entrance.  Two ladies held out a red banner with a tie in the center while a gentleman was holding a pair of large old shears.  The young CEO stepped out of the car and headed up the stairs towards the entrance.  Behind him were his executives.  He stepped behind the podium and made a quick speech.  Then, he went over to the banner and with pride and joy, cut the ribbon.  Tens of flashes brightened his face as he cut the ribbon.  The crowd at the bottom of the stairs cheered.  Then, he entered the building and the new headquarter of WEI was officially opened.

~*~*~*~*~

On Earth, a young boy no older than 17 lay upon a hospital bed sleeping peacefully.  His golden brown hair matted on the pillow beneath him like a halo of an angel.  Machines monitoring his progress beeped with the rise and fall of his chest.  Two forlorn women stood at each side of the comatose boy with worry.  The boy had been their best operative.  Now, due to a miscalculation in a mission with another group, the boy was now in a coma.  When he was brought into the hospital operated by Kritiker, the two of them had feared the worse.  The red haired woman held the boy's hand in her hand while the purple haired woman stood at one side, her face not registering any expressions.  Then, the red-head leaned over and kissed the boy on his bandaged head.  They then left the dark room, preparing to search for a new operative.

~*~*~*~*~

Two months had passed in AC 197 since the WEI headquarter had been moved to the city of Terence.  Quatre Winner attended meetings and putted his employees, laboring for money, on the top of his priorities while putting all the businessmen at the bottom.  His sisters often came in to help since if something happened to the young heir, they would have to take over the company with his wishes.  His friends from the war rarely contacted him anymore and he became gloomy due to that.

               Quatre looked out the window of his office towards the calm city.  He smiled wistfully as his life was being taken away from him.  Suddenly, a beep signified a call.  He turned away from the scenery and pressed a button.

               "Yes, Clarice?" his alto-soprano voice rang out.

               "Mr. Winner, you have a guest," the soothing voice of his secretary rang through the air.  Quatre frowned.  He didn't have an appointment that afternoon.

               "Show him-"

               "It's a her, sir," she interrupted.

               "My apologies: Send her in, please."

               "Yes, sir."

               The door to his office opened a moment later.  Quatre could hear Clarice's musical voice at the door.  The lady that he was supposed to meet entered the room.  Her striking red flamed hair kept Quatre staring at her in awe.  She had a pair of shades covering her eyes and she was very business-like.  He blinked and stood up.

               "Welcome," he said, holding out his hand.  "May I ask of your name?"

               She shook his hand and he could tell that she has been on many serious businesses like this.  "Certainly," she said, her voice hard with a hint of motherly affection, "I am called Manx."  He could tell that she was Japanese with her accent.

               "Manx?" he inquired.

               "I am here to offer you a proposition, Quatre Winner."

               "Yes?"  He was curious of her, with her straightforwardness.

               "May I sit down?" she asked.

               "Of course," he said, sitting down in his chair.

               "I know for a fact that your life is being taken away from you and that you have empathy," she said.

               He narrowed his eyes.  "How do you know that?"  His voice turned hard, like the war days.

               "I have my sources," she replied nonchalantly.  "But that's beside the point.  If you were to regain control of your life, would you do it?"

               "At what cost?" he asked.  A smirk found its way up to her mouth.

               "Just exactly what I expected from you," she said, the hardness in her voice was gone.  "I come from a secret society in Tokyo, Japan.  We are willing to erase your past as long as you join us."

               "What does this society that you're referring to do?"

               "Let's just say that we keep the corrupted people in line," she replied.  "Right now, we have an operative down and we would like to start a new group.  However, without the operative, that's impossible as he was supposed to be the founding member of the vigilante group."

               "Go on," he said.

               "Now, we will erase all traces of where you would go if you would take over the boy's life."

               "How so?"

               "This boy is very important to my organization and he is technically dead 10 years ago."

               "What?"

               "That is something that we can't reveal."

               "What do I have to do now?"

               She smiled sadly and took off her shades.

~*~*~*~*~

 "Current CEO, Quatre Raberba Winner, was killed in a car crash in the outskirts of the city of Terence…" the newscaster continued.  Quatre tuned the TV out as he packed his clothes, leaving nothing behind.  "His body had not yet been found in the remains, but authorities have reason to believe that Mr. Winner did indeed die in the terrible car crash involving tens of cars."  The young boy took another glance at the TV, where Iria had taken the screen, now speaking at a news conference.  He turned the TV off and placed a hat over his head, covering his hair.  He wore a pair of shades and proceeded out of the Victorian house.  After two months, he declined all offers to have a servant in the house and now he was glad that he didn't have a servant at the moment.  He hurried out of the house and entered the black sedan that was waiting for him outside of his house.  Manx sat in the car next to him and the car sped towards the space port, where a Kritiker owned shuttle was waiting for them.

~*~*~*~*~

Months passed since Quatre's death.  Quatre stayed in the darkness of Tokyo as he underwent a transformation.  His hair was dyed golden brown like his counterpart and he was trained to use his empathy for protection.  His accent in Japanese disappeared and he was trained to hack and use his counterpart's weapon.  He visited the comatose boy daily while memorizing the boy's past by entering the boy's mind.  He didn't dare touch the boy's subconscious as he knew that the boy would be there and simply sought to understand how the boy's mind worked.  By the time he was finished, the comatose boy became a part of him.

               In a few months, he was sent to Koneko no Sumu ie as the first operative for the 3rd generation Weiß.  He worked with Momoe Yamaguchi, a retired Kritiker operative who now has the flower store as a cover for Weiß.  He attended the nearby high school as a junior and hacked for the organization as he was without teammates.  In the months to come, he was joined by two others.  One was a chocolate haired brunette by the name of Hidaka Ken while the other was a blond playboy by the name of Kudou Youji.  Ken had been a J-League goalie when he was poisoned and Kritiker had saved him just in time.  He became the second member of Weiß.  Youji was a private detective and like Ken, was saved by Kritiker when he was near death.  Youji became the third member.  They all worked at the flower shop but only helped to train recruits as they were without a fourth member.

               The fourth member came to them shortly after Omi's 18th birthday.  His name was Fujimiya Aya and he seemed to be a cold hearted bastard.  Manx introduced him to the group and both Youji and Ken introduced themselves cheerfully, only to get no reply from Aya.  Quatre smiled wistfully as his empathy told him that Aya was very sad.  He then approached the serious youth.

               "Konnichiwa," he said brightly, holding out his hand to shake the older youth's hand.  "Boku wa Tsukiyono Omi." [1]

------

That's it for the prologue!  The title doesn't really fit now I think about it, but it'll do for now.  I might change it in the future.  Notes at the bottom following the preview for chapter 1.

Sayako

-------

"…Quatre practically betrayed Weiß when he found out that Takatori Hirofumi was Omi's brother and again, he left his real self behind.  He outright regretted the betrayal and sought out Aya to apologize to him.

               Aya simply said, 'You must choose now.  Do you want to be Tsukiyono Omi or Takatori Mamoru?  But you must understand this, you are who you are.'

               Quatre was taken aback by that statement.  He hadn't thought about the real person under this false appearance.…"

------

Notes:

[1] From now on, I'm going to refer to Quatre rather than Omi.  Omi'll just be in the dialogues and some other stuff.  Just gotta clear this up.  Quatre is pretending to be Omi and to all the others, he's Omi.  The real Omi's in a coma.  Okay?  Got that?  Good! ^___^;


	2. Acquaintances

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

[blah]-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 1 – Acquaintances

            Over the year with the Kritiker organization, Quatre felt that he was free and he was free to reject any missions that he didn't want to take.  He led the life of a normal teenager yet the life of an assassin.  He despised the killing, but still killed the targets to fulfill the mission.  At times, he felt that he had stepped into Omi's life so well that he had left his real past behind.  The truth was that he did indeed leave his past behind the minute he had accepted Manx's offer.  He was surprised how well he had acted and had fooled even the telepath from Schwartz, the greatest enemy of Weiß, even more so than Takatori Reiji or Estes.

               When he found out from the telepath with the name of Schuldich that Sakaki Ouka had been Omi's half-sister, he was shocked.  Despite her annoying presence, Quatre had taken a liking to her.  He was utterly depressed when Irish madman by the name of Farfarello from Schwartz had killed her.  He became more taken aback when he found out that Omi was Takatori Reiji's son.  Quatre practically betrayed Weiß when he found out that Takatori Hirofumi was Omi's brother and again, he left his real self behind.  He outright regretted the betrayal and sought out Aya to apologize to him.

               Aya simply said, 'You must choose now.  Do you want to be Tsukiyono Omi or Takatori Mamoru?  But you must understand this, you are who you are.'

               Quatre was taken aback by that statement.  He hadn't thought about the real person under this false appearance.  After Takatori was dead, Weiß focused upon the groups that they opposed the most: the four-man group of Schwartz and the four-woman group of Schrient.  They noticed the rising of Estes as Kritiker informed them and Quatre became less convicted than before.  Doubts multiplied by the tens with every mission but he didn't dare to show it, until the encounter with Kinugawa Rinzou, his doubt strengthened, only to be assuaged by Ken and Youji's words, putting his doubt to rest.  He continued fighting, keeping the group together like he did with the Gundam pilots and after Estes' fall, quitted school and traveled with the group in their trailer.  Aya-kun's sister had reawakened from her coma and was now employed in Koneko no Sumu ie.

               Throughout his career, Quatre took time to visit Omi and tell the comatose about some things that he learned for him.  He knew that Omi couldn't hear him but told him anyway, just to relieve himself of the stress.  He even told Omi about the time when Ken and he had went against Kritiker in a mission and he was practically killed by Youji's wires.  Aya and Youji were both "killed" by Ken and Ken was surprised when they were all still alive.

               "Naoru tookazaru, Omi-san," {Get well soon, Omi.} Quatre would always say at the end of each visit.

~*~*~*~*~

The Preventers were mildly suspicious of Quatre's sudden death.  Heero, Duo, and Trowa had gone to Quatre's residence in Terence to see everything gone.  All of Quatre's belongings had somehow disappeared.  They reported their findings to Une and she assembled a team to search for Quatre's body, discerning that something strange was going on.  The team included the Gundam pilots as well as Sally and Hilde, who both regarded Quatre as a good friend and a great person.  However, their search was fruitless.

               "Whoever did this was extremely thorough," said Heero, after searching for clues in Quatre's home for the millionth time.  Nothing was left in the house except for some appliances and decorations.

               "I thought you could search through everything," yelled Duo teasingly from down the hallway.  "This is the first time that you're beaten, eh?"

               "Duo…" said Heero exasperatedly.  He wiped his forehead and looked at Trowa, who was now holding a framed picture in his hand.  It was a picture of young Quatre and his father.

               "Quatre, where are you?" whispered Trowa.  Heero looked at the pilot forlornly and left the room to leave him to his troubled thoughts…

               That was a year ago.

~*~*~*~*~

'The Winner Enterprise today announced that their CEO, Iria Winner, is engaged to a well-known doctor in the L4 cluster-' Quatre hastily turned the TV off.  The four were having their lunch break, watching the news.  Their small trailer was closed and Quatre had prepared a simple lunch for all of them.

               'Omittichi, I was watching that!' complained Youji.

               'Really?  I thought you don't watch the news?' replied Quatre teasingly.

               'Not when it's about a good-looking lady!'  Quatre rolled his eyes and turned the TV back on, trying hard to tune it out.  Finally, he couldn't concentrate and left the living room.

               "Omittichi, daijoubu desu ka," {Omi, are you okay?} yelled Ken towards Quatre's room.

               "Daijoubu!" {I'm okay!} came Quatre's reply.  However, that was a lie.  He wasn't fine.  He felt lonely with the inability to call his friends and talk to them or to talk to his family.  Sure Aya, Youji, and Ken were now his family, but he wanted his real family, the family that he had left in the colonies.  He knew that joining Kritiker caged him in Japan, but he was free mentally.  He wanted very much to leave for the colonies to visit his friends again, but Manx told him that it was too risky.

               After a while, he signed onto the internet and chatted to Nagi a little bit.  Although Nagi was his enemy, he was understanding and had met Quatre long before Weiß had started fighting against Schwartz.  Quatre had send pictures of his new self to him and they were both surprised when they had engaged in their first battle.  Thereof, they had chosen to keep their friendship a secret.  Quatre had been happy with that, simply keeping their relationship secret.

               After a while, Quatre signed off, since Nagi had to run some errands for his "family."  Quatre was happy for him and stretched in the chair.  He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, reminiscing his past.

               'Oi!  Omi!  It's your shift!' came Youji's voice, snapping Quatre out of his reverie.

               "Mou, mou!" {Alright, alright!} shouted Quatre.  He got out of the chair and looked at himself in the small mirror in his room.  His appearance was simply deceiving.  He frowned then smiled wistfully at his reflection.

               "Omi-san, gomen ne," {Sorry, Omi.} he whispered.  Then, he went to the living room and took his apron off of the coat hanger.  He put it on, pulling his cap backwards and went out to work.  The afternoon shift was always slow in the beginning as school hadn't ended yet.

               Quatre started rearranging the flowers when he saw someone coming up.  He blanched at the sight.  It was his friends from the colonies.  Tears threatened to sprang from his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away.  He turned his attention towards the flowers again.

               "Irrasshimase!" {Welcome!} came Ken's cheerful voice when the Preventers came up to him.

               "Eigo hanashimasu ka?" {Do you speak English?} asked the Japanese.

               "Doushite?" {Why?} asked Ken, confused.

               "Because we don't know how to speak Japanese," the long braided boy interrupted rudely.

               "Maa," said Ken.  Ken knew limited English and didn't want to make an embarrassment of himself, so he called to Omi.  "Oi, Omi."

               "Hai, Ken," said Quatre, turning his attention to the Preventers.  "May I help you?" he asked.  After a year of not speaking English, Quatre was surprised that his English was still not accented.  He could tell by their expressions that they were too.  They thought that he would have accented English, like Heero, but he doesn't.

               "We would like some flowers for a friend," said Duo after looking at the florist who apparently was not who he seemed.

               "What's the occasion?" asked Quatre.  He felt Trowa's stare burning through him but he retained his cool.

               "Well, we're going to go visit his grave," said Wufei.  "It's very strange why his family had chosen to bury him in Japan."

               "Ah," said Quatre, acting as if he understood.  "Well then, you might want some mums."  He then went over to the mums section and started picking out several different colored mums.

               "We want it to be colorful," said Duo.

               "Naruhodo," {I see.}he replied.  "I see," he added.  He then started to make a bouquet with the different colored mums as well as other flowers suitable for a cemetery.

               "O namae ha?" {What's your name?} Trowa asked quietly.  Duo and the others all looked at him strangely.  Quatre continued working.

               "Boku wa Tsukiyono Omi," {I am Omi Tsukiyono.} he said, not looking at Trowa.  Then, he finished.  "Owari!" {Finished!} He held the bouquet out to Duo, then, he went over to the cash register and rang up the sale.  "That'll be 2,680 Yens."

               Heero handed the money over while Duo and Wufei stared at the beautiful arrangement.

               "What are these?  They don't look like flowers for a cemetery," Wufei said pointing at some flowers.

               Quatre looked at the flowers and replied, "The white rose is for the friend that you love, the forget-me-nots explained themselves pretty much, and the freesia is for trust.  I suspect that this friend of yours is one that you trust a lot and is hard to forget, ne?"

               "How did you know?" asked Heero in English.

               "Just an instinct," Quatre replied simply and went back to work.

               As the Preventers left, Trowa couldn't help but take one last look at the boy who seemed so familiar.

               "Sayonara, Trowa." {Good bye, Trowa.}

------

There's chapter 1!  Just setting up what'll happen.  The preview for chapter 2 is below as usual.  So there!

Sayako

------

               "Dare ga Manx desu ka."  Quatre stopped.

               "That's none of your business," he replied and disappeared into the night.

               "You can't hide your secrets forever, Omi," Trowa said softly and left.


	3. Ninmu Shippai

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene Change

Chapter 2 – Ninmu Shippai

               That night, after they closed shop, Omi hurried to his room and pocketed his cell phone.  He got dressed in an outdoor outfit and then proceeded out the trail.

               'Oi, Omi, where are you going?' asked Youji.

               'Just going out.'  Then, he left.

               Quatre jogged down the streets towards the park.  Then he took out his cell phone and dialed the number for Manx.

               "Moshi moshi?" {Hello?} came Manx's voice from the other end.

               "Manx-san.  Omi desu." {Mrs. Manx.  This is Omi.}

               "Quatre, doushitano." {Quatre, what's the matter?}

               'Can you meet me in the park now?'

               "Ryoukai, Manx out." {Understood, Manx out.}

               Quatre turned off the cell phone and ran around the center of the park, waiting for Manx.  Then, he stopped, sensing someone spying on him.  He reached into his jacket, grabbing three of his darts and pretended that he was simply resting.  The park was practically empty and the only thing that one could hear was Quatre's breathing and the crickets chirping.  Then, he heard a rustling and turned sharply towards the sound.

               "Nan desu ka," {Who's there?} he shouted out.  He then trained his darts on his stalker.

               "Yamete," {Stop.} the spy called out.  He stepped out of the bushes with his hands up, signifying his surrender.  It was Trowa.

               "What are you doing?" Quatre asked coldly.

               "I wanted to see you," said Trowa.

               "Doushite." {Why?}

               "I felt that you were familiar, somehow.  I can't explain it."

               "Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to meet someone here.  I would like some privacy thank you."  Then Quatre stalked off.

               "Dare ga Manx desu ka." {Who's Manx?} Quatre stopped.

               "That's none of your business," he replied and disappeared into the night.

               "You can't hide your secrets forever, Omi," Trowa said softly and left.

~*~*~*~*~

 "Omi-chan?" came Manx's voice.  Quatre raised his head and looked at the woman walking rapidly towards him.  It was ten minutes after his encounter with Trowa and he sobbed quietly by himself under the lamplights of the park, sitting on a park bench.  It was around eleven o'clock and the park was empty.  She sat down next to him.

               "Doushitano." asked Manx.

               "My friends have come to Tokyo," said Quatre solemnly, switching to English, "No doubt looking for me."

               "Aa.  Sou ka.  You know that you must keep calm while they're here.  Unless you want to go back that is."

               "Ne," said Quatre.  "I don't want to go back.  Although I miss my friends, they left me in that prison life.  I can't bear to go back anymore."

               "I know.  That's why you need to act flawlessly from now on.  Think of their appearance as a test, a test that will determine your future.  Good luck."  She then left him, but not before hugging him.  "Tsuyoi desu." {Be strong.}

               "Hai," he whispered.  Then she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Quatre to his thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Quatre got ready for his shift, which was the slowest part of the day when the bell in front of their trailer rang, signaling a costumer.

               "Irrasshimase!" {Welcome!} he greeted cheerfully, coming out of the trailer, only to have his eyes fall upon their informant.  "Birman," he acknowledged solemnly.  She took out a video tape and they went inside.

               "Minna!  Ninmu desu!" {Everyone!  There's a mission!} Quatre called out to his teammates as Birman entered the living room.  Soon, the four filed into their normal positions and Birman put the video tape in.  The shadow of Persia appeared and the computer generated voice began.

               "Weiß…" it started.

               'White hunters of the night, eliminate the darkness of tomorrow.' [1]

               'Why?' inquired Quatre.  'Why are we targeting them?' Birman turned to look at him with sad eyes.

               'The Gundam pilots are getting too close in finding out about Kritier.  You have to eliminate them.'

               "Demo-"

               'No but's.  You will carry out your mission tonight.'  Then she left.  Quatre sagged into his seat in despair.  He didn't want to kill him friends, but he had no choice now.  Once he had accepted Manx's offer, he had to take the missions.

               "Ne, Omittichi, ogenki desu ka?" {Hey, Omi, are you okay?} asked Youji.  'You seemed out of yourself these few days.'

               "Genki desu." {I'm fine.} Then, Quatre went over to the computer in the room and started working.  'I'll try to find more information on our targets,' he said listlessly.  'Aya-kun, can you work on a plan?'  Aya looked at him in surprise.  "Onegai." {Please.}

               "Hai," he said quietly.  Then the three left him in the room.

               Moments after his friends left, Quatre banged on the computer table in frustration.  Sobs of sadness and anger tore from his throat.  "Why?" he said.  "Why?"

               Outside, Ken and Youji leaned on the door to the living room while Aya leaned on the wall nearby.  Ken and Youji both had their ears on the door, trying to eavesdrop on Omi.  They all heard Omi's soul-wrenching cries and felt sad for their friend's predicament, but they had to leave Omi alone for now.

               "Minna," said Aya solemnly.  Youji and Ken turned towards him.  Aya nodded and they went to the kitchen.

~*~*~*~*~

The evening was a cloudless night.  The group started around midnight, although Quatre wanted it to be earlier, knowing that it would take a long time to complete the mission.  However, the others still opted for midnight.  To the others, Omi was to provide backup and the layout of the safe house in which the Gundam pilots were to be in.  Quatre didn't want to kill his friends, so he left the others to do the killing for him.

               Youji provided the transportation and soon their mission began.  As they approached the safe house ten miles from their trailer, Youji slowed the car down to prevent any unnecessary problems.  He parked the car about a quarter of a mile away from the location of their targets and Abyssian, Balinese, and Siberian began their walk towards the safe house, leaving Bombay behind in the car.  Quatre turned on his computer and while waiting for the computer to boot up, he looked around.  Then he spoke into his earpiece.

               "Weiß, chekku-in." {Weiß, check in.}

               "Abyssian desu," {This is Abyssian.} came Aya's silent tenor voice.

               "Balinese desu," {This is Balinese.} said Youji.

               "Siberian desu," {This is Siberian.} Ken said solemnly.

               "Basho," {Location?} requested Quatre.

               "Jyuu meetoru wa taagetto kara," {Ten meters from the targets.} reported Aya.

               "Ryoukai."  The computer screen lit up Quatre's face as he brought his tracer program up.  There were dots representing each of his teammates as well as incoming videos from each of his teammates, showing him the situation.  He looked as the three dots split up.  There were four green dots, which were the targets.  Two of them were clearly sharing a room.  Another one was immobile while the last one seemingly was pacing back and forth in his room.  Quatre turned him attention to the cameras and started whispering directions to his friends.  Soon, his teammates encountered the targets and as they fought, suddenly, he heard a rustling in the leaves and his head snapped towards that direction.  His right hand rested upon his crossbow and he looked around one last time before turning his attention back to the screen.  There were new dots on the screen now, signifying the presence of new people.  Quatre looked at the dots and gasped.

               "Minna!  Sch-" he never finished his statement.  A yell to his left jerked him out of his concentration as he struggled to get out of the car.  His assailant, the mad Irish man from Schwartz, thrust the switchblade towards the younger boy.  Fortunately, Quatre moved fast enough that the blade did not hurt him.  He quickly got out of the car and trained his crossbow on the man when he felt a hold on his body.

               "Shimatta," {Damn.} he cursed softly and felt a constriction in his throat.

               "Bombay!  Bombay!" Ken was shouting.  Quatre felt someone pulling the earpiece out of his ear.

               "Bombay wa mohaya koko dewa nai," {Bombay is not here any longer.} a low tenor spoke into the earpiece and then snapped it in half.  Brad Crawford, the leader of Schwartz, stepped into Quatre's view.

               'What do you want with me?' Quatre spat out.

               "We want to eliminate you of course, but not before we get some answers from you," said Crawford in English.

               "Why now?" he inquired.

               "By now, your friends should be dead, killed by the famous Gundam pilots, and you will help us to eliminate the pilots."

               "Why are you so interested in the pilots?"

               "Let's just say that we want to find out about the one that has been dead for a year now."  Quatre tensed.  Then he left his eyesight and Schuldich came into his view.

               "Aa, Katzchen.  You're just going to go to sleep now."  He smiled sinisterly.  He placed a handkerchief over the Weiß boy's mouth and nose.  Quatre knew that it was chloroform and struggled not to breathe it in.  However, before long, his lungs gave out and he inhaled the sweet smelling poison.  Then, his world turned black.

~*~*~*~*~

 "Bombay!  Bombay!" shouted Ken into his earpiece while trying to fight his opponent, which was practically the direct opposite of him.  His opponent was graceful, unlike his clumsiness and very quiet.  His opponent stopped fighting when he had heard Ken shout out "Bombay" and didn't fight back.

               "Yamete," he said to Ken, throwing his hands up in surrender.  "Bombay wa daijoubu desu ka." {Is Bombay okay?}

               "Eh?" Ken startled.  He was caught off guard with that question.  "O namae desu ka." {Who are you?}

               "Trowa Barton," Trowa replied.  "Bombay wa daijoubu desu ka."

               "Iie," {No.} Ken said.  "Doushite."

               "Omi wa Bombay desu ka," {Is Omi Bombay?} said Trowa.

               "Hai," said Ken cautiously.

               "Daijoubu, watashitachi wa himitsu tamotsu deshou.  Matte ne." {Don't worry.  Your secret is safe with us.  Wait a minute.} Then he ran out of the room.

               "Oi!" said Ken, running after Trowa.

               "Wufei, Duo, Heero, stop!" Trowa yelled at his friends.  The battle stopped and the fighters all turned to look at Trowa and Ken, who was just coming up to them.

               "What's the matter?" asked Duo.

               "We're a little bit busy here," said Wufei.

               "Schwartz," said Ken simply.

               "Shimatta," cursed Youji.

               "Doushitano?" inquired Heero.

               'Schwartz has Omi,' said Ken.

               'Who is Schwartz?' asked Trowa.

               'Our greatest enemy,' said Aya.  'They certainly weren't as active as before nowadays.'

               'Hai.  I can't imagine what they need with Omi,' said Youji.

               'We need to go rescue him,' said Ken.

               'What about the mission?' said Youji.

               'This mission has been aborted,' answered Aya.  'Omi's more important now.'

               "Hold up, stop, rewind," said Duo frustrated.  "What the hell were you guys talking about?  Some of us would like to know that."

               Ken snickered and Duo glared at him, which was not at all threatening.

               "Omi's been kidnapped," said Trowa.

               "Omi?  You mean the florist that we met a few days ago?"

               "That same one."

               "Whoa, don't tell me that the flower shop was just a cover," said Duo.  "What are you guys?  Vigilantes?"

               "Indeed we are," said Aya in Japanese accented English.

               "Thank you!  Finally, someone who can speak English!"

               "So what do we do now?" asked Wufei.

               "Well, Omi's an important part of our team.  This mission has failed.  We need to leave," said Aya.  With that, the three assassins proceeded to leave.

               "Matte," said Trowa.  The three looked back at him.

               "Hey, Trowa, what are you doing?" asked Duo.  Trowa ignored him.

               'I want to help Omi out,' he told the assassins.

               "Doushite," asked Ken.

               'There's something about Omi that just doesn't seem right to me, like he has a life long secret.'  Ken, Aya, and Youji all looked at each other and shrugged.

               'You can help.  We need all the help we can get now,' said Youji.

               "Arigato," {Thank you.} thanked Trowa and followed them.

               "Oi!  What's going on?" shouted Duo irritatedly.

               "You can come if you want to help," said Aya disappearing into the night.

               "Hell, yeah.  I want to see Omi again!" said Duo enthusiastically and followed Trowa.  Heero and Wufei looked at each other and told the other, "Oh well," and followed the others as well.

------

Sheesh, there's a lot of translation to do!  ^_^;.  Well, that's it for the chapter.  A little preview from the next chapter is below.

Sayako

------

…As he took in his surroundings, he couldn't help but notice a body in the middle of the field.  The flash of gold struck a pang in his heart.  He approached the body and recognized it as Quatre.

               The aura that the smaller boy was radiating was simply breathtaking and he didn't notice that he was holding his breath until the boy shifted.  Quatre opened his eyes and looked into Trowa's eyes.  He seemed surprise at the fact that Trowa was there.

               "What are you doing here?" his melodious alto rang out.

               "I was about to ask you the same question," said Trowa quietly.

               "I don't know, somehow, I just ended up here," said Quatre…

------

Notes:

[1] I don't remember what it's suppose to be  ___ *sniff*  I have bad memories now…  Somebody please tell me!  @_@

Whew, that's that.  That's a lot of translations to do.  And I'm saying "that" a lot too.  Oh well.  'Til next time!


	4. Secrets

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.

Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

[blah]-translation in English for Japanese

`blah`-thoughts/telepathic conversation

~*~*~*~*~ Scene Change

Chapter 3 – Secrets

               Quatre woke up looking at a dark room.  The mission had been a failure and he blinked away his daze, pulling himself away from the remnants of the chloroform poisoning.  He moved around and found himself unable to move.  His wrists were bound tightly underneath him with a rope and his legs were bound as well.

               "Shimatta," he cursed.  Then, he looked around and saw that the room had no windows and the only way out was through the locked door.  He was on a cot and somebody had the decency to "tuck" him in.  The touch of rough cotton grazed his skin and he fought the urge to scratch himself.  There was nothing in the room, saved for the cot which he was in and he moved around, tossing the worn blanket onto the floor.  As soon as he had done that, he licked his lips from thirst.  He didn't know how long it had been since he was captured but he knew it was well over six hours ago.

               Suddenly, the door to his room opened and white light poured into the room.  He winced from the sudden exposure to light and closed his eyes.  He knew that there was somebody coming in as he could hear the clicking of heel against the hard floor.  The door soon closed with a "thud," and Quatre opened his eyes again, readjusting to the darkness of the room.  He looked up and saw Nagi's familiar face, lit by candle light, which floated beside him.  He was carrying a tray of food.

               "Nagi," acknowledged Quatre softly.  He was surprised how his voice wasn't as cold as it usually was.  Nagi noticed the softness in the boy's tone and smiled a little bit.

               'I brought you food,' he said quietly.

               "Arigatou gozaimasu," {Thank you very much.} thanked Quatre.  Nagi placed the tray on the floor and helped the captive to sit up.  Then, Nagi levitated a glass of water to his hand and brought the glass up to Omi's lips.  Quatre drank greedily and was glad that he did not choke.  His throat felt much better after drinking the soothing water.  Then, he looked at Nagi, who now had a bowl of porridge in his hand.  The food was steaming hot so Nagi used his power to cool it down.  Then, he scooped a spoonful of porridge and brought it to the older boy's mouth and the boy ate hungrily.  In a matter of minutes, the bowl was empty of porridge and Nagi placed the bowl on the ground.

               "Arigatou, Nagi-kun," said Quatre.  Nagi had the decency to blush and he snickered.  Nagi glared at him, which was even funnier considering how flushed the younger was.  After a while, Quatre stopped giggling and Nagi stood up.

               'Get some rest and prepare yourself.  Schuldich's going to interrogate you in an hour.'

               "Hai," obliged Quatre weakly.  Then, Nagi left the room and Quatre settled back into the cot.  He closed his eyes and started meditating, preparing his mental self from the onslaught that the telepath would subject him through in less than an hour.

~*~*~*~*~

Back in the flower trailer, the group searched for the missing boy, even though he was already 19, making him technically an adult and not a minor.  Heero and Duo were graced with using the two computers, one for Omi's own personal use while the other for missions.  While the two hacked into the net trying to find Bombay, the others got to know each other better.  It seemed rather strange how the mission turned the enemies into friends and something about Omi that brought them all together.

               After an hour, Wufei could be seen sitting on the floor meditating.  Trowa was leaning against a wall like Aya, getting some shut eyes.  Ken and Youji had both returned to their rooms while Heero continued to work on.  Duo sprawled out over the couch sleeping peacefully and occasionally, Trowa would open his eyes to see Heero still working.  He seemed rather restless with Omi's disappearance, as if he'd known him from somewhere before.  It seemed odd, but it made Trowa rather uneasy.  He closed his eyes again to fall into a dream.

               …In the dream, he was at peace.  The field of green grass spread through the plains and the smell of newly cut grass permeated in the air.  A breeze swept across the grass, creating ripples in the field.  Flowers bloomed and trees stood proudly in the field.  As he took in his surroundings, he couldn't help but notice a body in the middle of the field.  The flash of gold struck a pang in his heart.  He approached the body and recognized it as Quatre.

               The aura that the smaller boy was radiating was simply breathtaking and he didn't notice that he was holding his breath until the boy shifted.  Quatre opened his eyes and looked into Trowa's eyes.  He seemed surprise at the fact that Trowa was there.

               "What are you doing here?" his melodious alto rang out.

               "I was about to ask you the same question," said Trowa quietly.

               "I don't know, somehow, I just ended up here," said Quatre.

               "Are you real?"

               Quatre laughed.  It was joyous and made the spirits much more pleasant.  "Of course, silly.  If I'm not real, why would you see me?"

               "Well, this is my dreamscape," said Trowa.

               "True, but other people don't simply show up in other people's dreamscape.  Do I seem any different than the last time you saw me?"

               Trowa looked at Quatre and was about to say "no" when he looked into Quatre's eyes.  They were full of sorrow and sadness, no longer full of life like before.  "Yes.  Why are you sad, little one?"

               Quatre looked away.  "I'm sad because I miss my friends," he replied truthfully.

               Trowa approached him, but he backed away.

               "Don't touch me.  If you do, I won't be here anymore," he said.  Trowa stopped.

               "You and the others are searching for Omi right?" asked Quatre.  Trowa was surprised.

               "Wha…" he replied dumbly and Quatre snickered.  Trowa glared at him.

               "Gomen nasai.  Anyway, answer my question." {I'm sorry.}

               "Yes, we are.  How did you know?"

               "Let's just say someone with powers told me that," he said simply, clearly hiding something, but Trowa didn't seem to catch it.

               "Well, where is he?"

               Quatre waved his hand and the scenery changed to the city.  Behind Quatre was a dark building.  He turned around and walk towards the building.

               "He's in there."  Trowa looked at the building and looked around.  The scenery was unfamiliar.

               "Where are we?"

               "We're in Tokyo.  You see the Tokyo Tower there?" he said pointing at the radio tower a few blocks away.

               "Yeah," said Trowa.

               "Take a last look around, 'cause you'll need to tell the others about this place."

               Trowa looked around one last time and when he looked towards Quatre again, the young man was already gone.

               "Quatre?  Quatre?  Don't leave me!" he exclaimed.  Suddenly, as it had begun, it ended…

~*~*~*~*~

Trowa took a deep breath and opened his eyes.  His eyes darted around and it was around 8 o'clock already.  Heero was asleep at the computer, which was still humming.  Wufei had left his place of meditation and he could smell food coming from the kitchen.  Duo had fallen from the couch onto the floor and was still sleeping.  Aya still maintained his position and from his position, Trowa could see that he was deeply asleep.  He stretched, getting rid of the morning cramps and went into the kitchen, where Wufei could be seen making breakfast.

               "What are we having?" he asked.

               "Morning, Trowa.  We're having eggs, bacon, and toast."

               "Aa.  You want me to go and wake up the others?"

               "Sure, why not.  The food's almost done."  With that, Trowa went into the living room.

               "Heero, wake up," he said softly to Heero while shaking the boy's shoulder.  Heero grunted and yawned, stretching.  He then went over to Duo and prodded at the boy.  Duo swatted at the finger and he smirked.

               "Duo," said Trowa, rather loudly.  "Wake up."

               "I dun wanna," Duo complained.  [1] Trowa sighed and Heero, seeing the situation, went over to wake up his lover.  While Heero worked on Duo, Trowa saw that Aya had woken up as well.

               "Ohayo gozaimasu," {Good morning.} greeted Trowa.  Aya acknowledged and smiled slightly.

               "Ohayo," {Morning.} he said kindly.  Then, he went to Ken's room and yelled for Ken to wake up.  He did the same thing to Youji, who was obviously not a morning person.

               Something nagged in the back of Trowa's mind and he struggled to figure out what it was.  Suddenly, he remembered: his dream of Quatre!

               "Ah ha!" he exclaimed and the room's occupants all looked at him weirdly.

               "Sorry, but I know where Omi is," he said.

               "Nani?" said Ken, who had just come out from his room.

               'Trowa knows where Omi is,' translated Aya.

               "Nani?  Demo, douyatte," {What?  But how?} said Youji, who had caught onto what the others were talking about.

               "Yume," {Dream.} said Trowa.  Ken and Youji looked at each other and then looked at Trowa in disbelief.  Trowa then turned to the others.  "I had a dream."

               "How *yawn* do you *yawn* that it's true?" asked Duo, who had just woke up.

               "Because Quatre was in the dream," he said quietly.  The pilots fell silent.  Ken and Youji looked at each other and shrugged.

               "You can't be serious," said Wufei scoffingly.

               "I am serious," said Trowa.

               "Where is Omi?" asked Aya.  Trowa turned to him and saw concern in the older man's eyes.

               "He and Schwartz are both in a building near the Tokyo tower.  I can't give you an address but I know where it is by looking at its surroundings."

               "Sou ka.  We should leave in two hours."  Trowa nodded.  Then, Aya repeated his decision to his team members in Japanese and the two nodded in agreement simultaneously.  Then, all of them separated to get prepared.

~*~*~*~*~

Quatre sighed, putting up his shields once again after sending Trowa the vision some time ago.  His real self retreated to the deepest part of his subconscious and he proceeded to build up walls around his former life.  Soon, he finished and opened his eyes.  The door suddenly opened, revealing a man.

               "Schuldich," he hissed.

               "Ah, Katzchen remembers me!  I'm so honored," the red-haired telepath said sarcastically.  "Get up."

               "How?  I'm all tied down," he retorted.  Schuldich cursed and took out a Swiss knife.  Then, he cut the bonds tying the captive's legs together.  He then pulled the boy up and proceeded to drag him out of the room.

               Quatre hissed with the sudden exposure to bright light.  He squinted his eyes and soon adjusted to the brightness.  He saw that it was morning out the window.

               "Where are we going?" he asked.

               "The lab," said Schuldich simply.  Quatre gulped.

               `Aw, is little kitty afraid of the lab?` intruded a nasal voice.

               `Get out of my head, you freak,` Quatre thought loudly.  Schuldich only laughed.  Soon, the two stopped in front of a black wooden door and the telepath knocked on the door.

               "Come in," came Crawford's voice from the other side.  Schuldich opened the door and guided the younger boy into the room.  Inside, chemical set up strewn the sides of the room.  A chair nailed to the floor was set up in the center of the room; beside it was a rolling table.  On top of the table was a metal tray with a syringe and a vial of unknown substance.  Quatre gulped.  Crawford stood next to the chair and Nagi stood in a corner of the room.  The telepath guided the captive towards the chair and sat him down.  There were no straps or any restraints, yet it wasn't necessary.

               "Nagi," said Crawford simply.  Nagi didn't move from the spot and Quatre could feel Nagi's powers holding him down.

               "What are you planning to do?" asked Quatre solemnly.

               "We're going to use an experimental chemical that'll expose all of your secrets to Schuldich.  You can't withhold any information from us with this chemical."

               "What if you don't succeed?"

               "If the chemical fails, you can be disposed easily."  Quatre gulped.  Then, Crawford filled the syringe with 20 cc of the experimental substance and then jabbed it into the boy's arm.  Quatre shut his eyes when the needle pierced into his body and could immediately feel the chemical working.  He gasped and started breathing heavily as he fought against the effects of the chemical.  He could feel Schuldich's presence in his mind, looking through his memories as if flipping through a photo album.  He struggled to keep the walls around his real self up but the effects of the drug were slowly eating away his defenses.  He had no more strength left and mustered all of his energy to send a distress call to his friends.

               `Help me…` he thought and fell unconscious.

~*~*~*~*~

`Help me…`

               "Nani?  Quatre?" said Trowa out loud.  They were just outside the building in which Omi was supposedly in.  The passerby ignored them as they hurried to their destinations.  None of them would bother to give this odd group of people another look, assuming that they belonged in the loony bin.  The building seemed abandoned as there was a sign saying that the building was for lease.

               "Trowa, what's the matter?" asked Duo.  He looked at the ordinary building through his pairs of shades.

               "I could've sworn that I heard Quatre."

               "Quatre is dead," said Wufei in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.  Trowa ignored him.

               "Let's go," said Aya and they went around the building to get in through the back door.

~*~*~*~*~

After a few minutes exploring the boy's mind, Schuldich pulled out, smiling mischievously.

               "What did you find out?" asked Crawford.

               Schuldich didn't answer him.

               "Schuldich-"

               "Hey, Brad, did you know that the pilot isn't dead?" the telepath interrupted.

               "Nani?" Nagi's voice piped up.

               "Yep, Quatre Winner isn't dead.  In fact…"

~*~*~*~*~

Once they infiltrated the building, they followed Trowa, who seemed to know exactly where to go.  Some of them were skeptical, but followed them as they had no other lead as to where the energetic teenager might be.

               Suddenly, Trowa stopped in front of a black wooden door.

               "He's in there," said Trowa.  All of them pulled out their weapons and prepared to go in.

               "Come on in, Weiß and the Gundam pilots," came Crawford's voice.  "We know that you're out there!  Come in and take a look at your little friend."

               "Shimatta," cursed Youji.

               "You think we should go in?" asked Duo.

               "We have no choice.  They already know that we're here," said Heero.  Then, Aya nodded to Ken, who was the closest to the door and Ken opened the door.  The seven teenagers filed into the room and saw their friend slumped in the chair.

               "Omi!" exclaimed Ken and stepped forward, but Aya stopped him, glaring at Schuldich.

               Schuldich laughed.  "Oi, Crawford, do we still need him?" he asked, pointing at the boy.

               "No," said Crawford coldly.  "Our objective has changed.  Let's go."  Then, he turned towards the other end of the room.

               "Yamete!" shouted Ken and before he made another move, someone else was already on the move.

               "Shi-ne!" yelled Aya, striking at Crawford.  The Schwartz leader sidestepped and then took out a smoke bomb.  He threw it onto the ground and the room was instantly filled with smoke.

               When the smoke cleared, they saw that Schwartz had left and Omi was on the ground.  The seven hurried over to the boy's side, who coughed and opened his eyes weakly.

               "Minna-san…" he said weakly.

               "Shh, Omi," said Youji.

               "Iie."  He then struggled to get up.

               "What are you trying to do?" asked Duo.

               "Gomen nasai, Duo-kun."  {I'm sorry, Duo.} Duo stared at him in disbelief.

               "How'd you know my name?"

               Quatre smiled weakly.  He took a deep breath and stood up, shaking off his friends.  He turned around.  "Wufei, please cut the rope apart."  Wufei then cut the rope and Quatre brought his hands in front of him, rubbing his sore wrists.  He then started for the door.

               "Omi-" started Ken.

               "No, I'm not Omi."

               "What?" exclaimed Duo.

               "No time to explain.  I need to get to the hospital."

               "Why?" asked Trowa.

               "Because Tsukiyono Omi's in danger."  Then, Quatre ran out the room and exited the building, with his friends behind him.

               "This is one weird day," said Duo.

               "You said it," agreed Wufei as they chased after the Omi imposter.

------

Wai!  What will happen next?  Thanx to all of "youse" who reviewed!  Arigatou gozaimasu!  Anyways…some insignificant people will show up as allies and as enemies.  Just trying to get everything down now…  Well, a preview of the next chapter, coming up!

Sayako

------

               Despite the aftermath of the drugs within his system, Quatre ran with celerity that would surprise anyone who knew about his previous circumstance.  Now, he's just fighting against the current of the people coming towards him to get to the hospital that Kritiker owned.  He didn't look back for his friends.  All he was doing was concentrating on the welfare of his counterpart.

------

Notes:

[1] Aw…Duo-kun needs his beauty sleep.  *giggles* Sorry, that moment just had to be done.


	5. Truth Beyond One's Grasp

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.

Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 4 – Truth Beyond One's Grasp

               Despite the aftermath of the drugs within his system, Quatre ran with celerity that would surprise anyone who knew about his previous circumstance.  Now, he's just fighting against the current of the people coming towards him to get to the hospital that Kritiker owned.  He didn't look back for his friends.  All he was doing was concentrating on the welfare of his counterpart.

               As he passes the Tokyo tower, he couldn't help but glance up at the blinking light on top of the tower.  He paused for a moment to reminisce about the events of these past few days then hurried towards his destination.

               Soon, the whitewashed building loomed over him as he approached it: the Tokyo Police Hospital, a hospital that Kritiker owned through Manx's own connection as she was the Police Commissioner.  Hosting 300 rooms, the hospital was by far the best in the city, perhaps in the country.  The medical center was 11 stories tall, hosting 30 rooms per floor.  Next to it was the Physicians' offices building, providing offices to the 400 doctors that work in the medical center or just as part of the organization that the government had set up for the medical workers in Japan.

               Quatre hurried up the stairs, stepping on every third steps, towards the entrance of the hospital.  As soon as he reached the top, he slowed down, knowing that the nurses and the workers would only throw him out if he was running.  He walked at a fast pace through the automated doors and smiled brilliantly at the nurses at the front desk, who giggled and blushed.  Then, he hurried to the patients' elevator and punched the up button.  He tapped one of his feet in impatience and at last, a "ding" signified the arrival of the elevator.  He entered the elevator and pushed a button.  The door of the elevator closed and the elevator zoomed its occupant up towards his destination.

~*~*~*~*~

Weiß and the pilots all could not believe how fast their target was, regardless of the remains of the drug within his system.  By the time that they had gotten to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the hospital's main lobby, the once-drugged boy was already at the top.  They hurried up the stairs only to see their "friend" disappear.

               "Shimatta," {Damn.} cursed Youji.

               "Great, now what?" complained Duo.  Trowa went into the hospital and went up to the front desk.

               'Excuse me, did you see a teenager about this tall with blue eyes and sandy brown hair,' he asked the nurses on duty.

               "Hai," said one of them.

               'Can you tell me where he went?'

               The other pointed towards the direction that "Omi" went.

               "Arigato," said Trowa.  Then, they went down that direction.  When they got to the end, they saw two elevators.

               "I think he should've gone to one of the floors to see Omi, I guess," said Heero.

               Aya nodded in agreement.  "We should first ask the front desk which room Omi's occupying," he said.

               "Agreed," said Heero.

               "I'll go," said Youji and he went to the front desk.

               'Remember that we have more important things right now!' Ken shouted softly to the departing playboy.

               'Ya, ya.  I know!' he replied, waving his right hand.

               After a few minutes, Youji came back, frowning.

               "Omi's not on the census," he said.

               "What?" said Duo.

               "Maybe he's in the hospital under another name," reasoned Wufei.

               "Or he might not be on the census for a reason," said Youji.

               "What do you mean?" asked Trowa.

               "This is a Kritiker operated hospital.  Omi might not be on the census because of that reason," answered Aya.

               "We should split up then," Wufei said in English.

               "I'll cover floors 2 and 8," said Heero, knowing that ICU would be on the second floor.

               "I'll cover floors 3 and 9 then," said Aya.

               "I'll cover 4th and 11th," said Trowa.

               "I'll cover 5th and join up with Aya on 9th later," said Youji.

               "I got 6th covered.  I'll join up with Heero later," said Duo.

               "I'll cover 7th and check up on the basement later," said Wufei.

               "Ken, you have 10th floor to cover," said Aya.  Ken waved his hand in annoyance.

               "Yeah, yeah, I know.  While I'm at it, I think I'll check this floor later," he said.  The others couldn't help but smile.

               Heero then pushed the up button and while they waited for the elevator, Aya remembered something.

               "We have to be quiet and discrete.  This is a hospital after all," he said.  "If someone comes up to you, just say that you needed to use the bathroom and go to some other level to find one of us so as not to raise suspicions."  All of them nodded.  The elevator arrived and everyone went to where they were to go.

~*~*~*~*~

Quatre got off the elevator hurriedly after the elevator arrived on the top floor.  The 11th floor was as silent as a tomb, save for a few beeps coming from the rooms around him.  The lights were always off and the nurses on duty on this floor were always crept out by the silence and the darkness of the floor and were mostly bored out of their minds.  Quatre often visited the 11th floor to visit his friend and the nurses rarely acknowledged him as they were busy listening to their earphones or sleeping, not really attending to the patients, not that any of them really need any attention.

               His footsteps echoed through the dark halls of the medical center as he hastened to get to his friend's room.  Had he not been in this part of the medical center for so many times, the silence and darkness would have frightened him; now, it's just a part of the daily routine that he does.  He hurried down the hall towards the room furthest away from the elevators.  He doubted that the nurses would've cared if he ran, but he still slowed to a quick paced walk.  A thousand things passed through his head as he worried about the safety of his counterpart.

               "Please let him be okay," he muttered repeatedly.  Finally, he stopped in front of Room 1131.  He took a deep breath and opened the door.  Inside, the occupant slept peacefully, the beeping of the heart monitor remaining constant.  Quatre exhaled the breath that he had been hold in relief.  Then, he closed the door and sat down in the chair set up next to the bed.  He held his head in his hands with eyes opened in thought.

               "What should I do, Omi-san?" he said in English.  He didn't care about anything now.  All he cared about was the boy in front of him and of what Schwartz might do if they laid their fingers on the defenseless boy.  As moments passed, the former Gundam pilot fell into a stupor and entered a dreamless sleep, holding onto one of the comatose boy's hands in an act of protection. [1]

~*~*~*~*~

As the elevator sped its occupants up towards their destinations, all of them found solace in the silence that blanketed the mood, collecting their thoughts about Omi or the Omi look-alike.  Trowa admitted that he hadn't really taken the initiative to contact with Quatre before he had mysteriously disappeared.  Now, he missed the kindness that the younger boy radiated and regretted his lack of will to keep contact with the other Gundam pilots.

               The elevator came to a halt upon arriving on 2nd floor.  One of its occupants stepped off.  The elevator sped up again, came to a halt on the 3rd floor; another stepped off, and the cycle repeated until Trowa was the only one left in the elevator.  He spent the last five seconds alone in the elevator reminiscing, recalling the memories that he had with his missing friend.

               "Ding," the elevator rang out for the tenth time since he had stepped onto the transportation.  A wave of coldness swept into the elevator as the doors opened and Trowa shivered.  The scene in front of him was not what he'd expected.  Darkness filled his senses as he stepped out of the elevator.  The doors behind him closed hurriedly as if the elevator was alive, anxious to get away from this desolate place.  He looked around and saw nothing but dimmed hallways.  There was no sound, except for the beeping of heart monitors echoing down the halls.  The silence sent chills down his spine and he shivered once again.  Then, he started walking down the corridor, his footsteps piercing through the silence of the hall.

               One thing struck him was that there seemed to be no attendants on this floor.  The silence was foreboding and reminded him of a morgue or a tomb filled with dead bodies if there was none of that beeping of the machinery.  Whitewashed walled dimmed by the lack of light seemed to be trapping him in this desolation and Trowa looked around in uncertainty.  All of the doors seemed to be closed, save for some.  Yet, he saw no one that was walking around; no nurses; no one.  He hurried along the dark hall and approached the end.  On his left was the last room, the room furthest from the elevators.  It was marked 1131 and the patient inside seemed to be the one that he was searching for.  He debated whether to go in or not yet something inside beckoned him in and he composed himself, deciding to intrude on the privacy of the patient.  His heart beat wildly as he opened the door slowly and quietly, hoping not to disturb anyone inside.

               As he pushed open the door, he saw that the room was dark and colder than the hallway.  The thick curtains had been drawn and blocked out the sunlight outside.  The sound of machinery humming and beeping revealed that a patient was indeed inside.  Trowa tiptoed into the room softly and looked around.  The room was normal for a hospital room, save for the expensive machinery hooked up all around the patient.  The patient looked awfully familiar though and there was also another person in here.  The visitor seemed to be hanging onto the patient as if for hope and was sleeping peacefully yet with a slight indication that he was not a heavy sleeper.  Upon closer inspection, Trowa saw that it was his friend.

               He gasped and the visitor stirred.  His eyes opened suddenly and fell upon the standing acrobat beside him.

               Quatre lifted his head and glared at Trowa coldly.

               "What are you doing here?  You are not supposed to be here," he whispered venomously.

               "Who is he?" he asked calmly.

               "It doesn't matter.  He's safe," said Quatre passionlessly.  "You should leave."  He stood up, holding onto the patient's hand.  He then let go of the hand and put it on the bed.

               "I'm not going to leave," said Trowa.  "That's Omi, isn't it?  The _real Omi?"  Quatre didn't answer him and looked down.  Silence fell in the room and Trowa could hear small whimpering sounds from the boy in front of him.  Even without looking at the smaller teenager, Trowa knew that he was crying and he sympathized with him._

               "I don't need your sympathy," the sobbing boy croaked out.  Trowa's eyes widened at that remark.

               "What?" he asked.

               "I said: I don't need your sympathy."  He turned to face the taller boy.  "I have lived long enough without it.  I certainly don't need it now."

               "What happened?"

               "What is your problem!?  I told you to leave!" Quatre started raising his voice, knowing full well that no one would hear him anyway.

               "I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth."

               "Ha, the truth about what?" retorted Quatre.  "No one wants the truth, not even me.  What makes you so special, Trowa Barton?"  Then, he started to leave but Trowa blocked his way.

               "Let me pass," he said coldly.

               "No."  Quatre groaned, irritated and faked a move, zooming out of the room in a split second passing by Trowa.  Trowa muttered incoherently and ran after the younger boy, who seemed rather lethargic since the last chase.

               "Shimatta," Quatre cursed.  He pushed himself to run faster, but his body wouldn't obey.  He felt himself slowing down to a walk and finally, he stopped, his legs burnt out.  Unable to support his body, his legs collapsed but he didn't fall to the ground.  A pair of strong arms held him up.

               "No," whispered Quatre.  "Let me go," he said sluggishly, struggling weakly against his captor, who was embracing the younger.  His eyes threatened to close but he would allow it.

               "Let it go," Trowa said softly.  "Rest."  Quatre continued to struggle weakly until exhaustion overcame his senses and he fell unconscious.  His head drooped down and he slumped against the tall man.  Trowa then shifted to carry the unconscious boy.  He was surprised that the boy was fairly light and walked down the hallway towards the elevators, his footsteps fading away into nothingness as he disappeared into the darkness before him.

               He waited for the elevator to arrive and looked at the boy in his arms.  He looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.  Then, a "ding" signaled the arrival of the elevator.  Trowa had to strain his eyes to see as he walked into the elevator, his eyes unaccustomed to the bright light within the elevator.  Once his eyes readjusted, he pushed the button that will take him to the floor below.  The doors then closed, placing him in a warmer situation and he leaned on one of the walls of the elevator.

               Soon, the elevator came to a stop upon arriving at 10th floor.  Trowa straightened and shifted the bundle in his arms.  The doors opened and surprisingly, Ken was there.

               "Nani?  Trowa?" asked Ken, surprised that Trowa had found the boy so fast.  "Omi?"

               'He's just sleeping,' said Trowa tenderly.  'You already finished that floor?'  Ken stepped into the elevator.

               'Hai.  There weren't a lot of rooms, so I just circled the floor once and waited for the elevator.'

               'Aa.  We need to find the others,' Trowa replied as Ken pushed the button for the 9th floor.

               'I'll go round them up; you can wait for us on 1st floor.'

               "Sure."  Then the elevator arrived on the 9th floor and Ken left, pushing the button for the 1st floor on his way out.  The doors closed again and Trowa was left to his reverie.

~*~*~*~*~

 "Ding!"  The elevator went for the fourth time.  Trowa looked up at the doors of the elevator as they slid open.  He was sitting on a bench near the elevators with the Omi imposter sleeping his lap.  The elevator's occupants filed out and Trowa could his friends coming out, walking towards him.  He lifted the sleeping boy's head up off of his lap and placed it on the bench. [2]

               "How is he?" asked Heero.

               "He's fine, just tired."

               "So what do we do now?" asked Ken.

               "We should probably get back to the trailer," said Aya.

               "What about the real Omi?" asked Youji.

               "What about him?" inquired Wufei.

               "Well, shouldn't we go see him?" said Duo.

               "He's up in room 1131.  It's the floor for comatose patients.  You guys aren't dressed properly for the climate up there.  It's very cold up there and very dark," said Trowa.

               "Well, then, we should get back to the trailer and question him first," said Heero.

               "I agree.  Then, we should phone Manx and ask her about this whole mess," said Youji.

               The others nodded.  Then, Trowa picked the sleeping boy up and they left through the back door, avoiding attention.

~*~*~*~*~

Quatre woke up feeling warmer than he had thought he would be.  He opened his eyes to see a blue-painted ceiling.  He looked up in confusion and blinked again.  Indeed, the ceiling above him was not white like he thought it would be, but rather blue.  He got up immediately and looked around.  He saw that he was in his room in the trailer and night has already fallen upon the city.  He sat in his bed with the blanket covering his lower torso and looked towards the door.  The door was closed with a stream of light coming out from underneath the door.

               He cursed softly, knowing that the others must've found Omi and got out of bed immediately.  He was hit with a wave of dizziness as he stood and his body threatened to fall back into the bed, but he held onto the wall nearby for support.  He shook his head, only to make the dizziness worse and collapsed onto the floor, shutting his eyes tightly.

               The door to his room opened, revealing a dark figure in the doorway with bright light showering upon his frail body.  Quatre whimpered and the figure quickly entered the room, closing the door behind him.

               The figure lifted the younger man up and tucked him back into the bed.  He poured a glass of water, and held the glass up to the sick boy's lips.  Quatre drank greedily and settled back into the bed in reluctance.

               "What are you doing here, Trowa?" he asked weakly.

               "You're sick.  I need to take care of you," he replied simply.

               "Ha," laughed Quatre coldly, "where were you when I needed you before?" he retorted, careful not to give away any clues.

               "Who are you?" Trowa asked.  Quatre said nothing.

               "I know that you're not Tsukiyono Omi and I doubt Manx will tell us anything, so why not tell us?"

               "It doesn't matter," Quatre said, turning away from Trowa.

               "Of course if does," persisted Trowa.

               "Omi won't wake up even if I reveal my true identity to you.  I'd be better off acting like I have for my entire life," Quatre lied.

               "Why do you act?" said Trowa.  Quatre sobbed softly.

               "Please, just leave me be.  Just leave me alone to my thoughts.  Why won't you let me have that privilege!?" he sobbed.  Trowa said nothing, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get any more answers from the sobbing boy tonight, and left, leaving Quatre alone once again.  Quatre cried.  He half hoped that Trowa would stay, but instead, he had left him alone, just like he did a year ago. [3]

------

Wah!  Poor Quatre.  Thanx to all who reviewed!  Arigatou Gozaimasu.  The plot thickens…  ^_^;  I need reviews!  XP

               Anywayz, they won't know the truth until later…  Probably in the next chapter, I promise!  And Schwartz will come back, and some minor characters will show up.  What for, I don't know yet, but I'll come up with something!  Notes after the preview as usual!  ^_^        Got to go study for AP now… Ja ne!

Sayako

------

               Quatre woke up the next day to see birds tweeting softly outside.  It had yet to be dawn and he blinked away his sleepiness, distinctly remembering that he had cried himself to sleep last night.  …He stretched and looked towards the east, where the first light of the sunrise shined into his forlorn face.  He frowned and started jogging towards the hospital once again, never noticing the trailer door opening with his departure.

------

Notes:

[1] Evil hentai people, they are not infatuated with each other!  Quatre's acting like Omi's older brother even though technically, Omi's older than Quatre.

[2] Again, no love here!  They are just friends.  Anyone who says otherwise shall enter the darkness of my realm!  Bwahahahahaha… That's not going to work… *sigh*  Just let me babble on incoherently on my own now…

[3] Poor Quatre and worrisome Trowa.  Methinks that I've made Trowa much too fussy over Quatre, drowning poor ole Quatre in a pool of emotions…  or something like that… ^_^;


	6. Truth Long Hidden

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.  Thanx to all of the people who reviewed!  Arigato Gozaimasu!**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 5 – Truth Long Hidden

               Quatre woke up the next day to see birds tweeting softly outside.  It had yet to be dawn and he blinked away his sleepiness, distinctly remembering that he had cried himself to sleep last night.  He got up and stretched, flexing his muscles.  He felt a lot better than last night.  He tiptoed over to the door and quietly opened it.  He looked out and found the trailer to be silent.  He kept quiet and left the confines of his room, closing the door behind him softly.  He tiptoed through the hall quietly and reached the front door, passing by the snoring pilots in the living room.  He picked up his shoes and opened the front door quietly, hoping that no one would hear him.  He then closed the door softly and put on his shoes.  He stretched and looked towards the east, where the first light of the sunrise shined into his forlorn face.  He frowned and started jogging towards the hospital once again, never noticing the trailer door opening with his departure.

~*~*~*~*~

The morning after bringing the no-named boy home, Trowa woke with a start.  He found himself on the couch while Duo was sprawled out on the floor, sleeping like a pig.  Heero was already awake and was typing away on the keyboard, doing things beyond Trowa's own comprehension.  He stretched and yawned.

               "Morning," Heero said, looking at Trowa's reflection on the monitor.

               "Morning," replied Trowa.  "What are you doing?"

               "I'm checking up with Preventers' Headquarters.  We've been marked as MIAs." [1]

               "Have you told Une about the situation here?"

               "I'm writing an e-mail to her right now."

               "I see."  Then, Trowa stood up and stretched.  He yawned again and proceeded towards the room down the hall.

               "Don't bother to check," said Heero, keeping his attention on the screen.  "He's not there.  He left early this morning."

               "What?  Why didn't you stop him?" Trowa asked, surprised.

               "He needs to be free."  Heero turned to face Trowa.  "Don't you understand?  He won't tell you the truth if you continue to prod him like you did last night.  We have to give him some space in order to learn the truth.  Lean back and see the big picture, Trowa.  He will eventually tell us.  Until that time comes, everyone should be careful around him."

               "But what if Schwartz goes and captures him again?  Then what'll we do?" asked Trowa.

               "He's a trained assassin," Heero said simply.  "Besides, he's not who he seems to be.  There's more to him than we see and know for that matter." [2]

               "How do you know?"

               "Just call it an instinct."

~*~*~*~*~

After breakfast, Trowa left the confines of the trailer into the near-abandoned park as Weiß opened shop.  He walked around the park in which Aya, Ken, Youji, and the supposed-Omi had their trailer set up.  The flower shop seemed strange to be a cover for these assassins, yet they would not reveal their past together.

               Heero had conferred with all of them that they should leave the 19-year-old teenager alone to collect his thoughts.  He believed that the teenager would tell them the truth once his prepared and no one disagreed, but no one agreed either.

               As he walked around the park, Trowa could help but think about the teenager.  Like Heero had said, he was not someone who he seemed to be and Trowa pondered upon that.  Yet, he was unable to concentrate as some presence seemed to lurk in the back of his mind.  It was as though he had an omen which he was unable to grasp.  He furrowed his brows in concentration and came to the conclusion that the teenager had gone to the hospital once again and that both him and the one he's protecting were in danger.

               He took out his cell phone that the Preventers had supplied him and speed-dialed Heero.

               "Heero?  Trowa desu," he said into the cell phone after the other had picked up.

               "I'm fine.  I think something's wrong at the hospital…Yeah…I'll meet you there then…Ryoukai…Trowa out."  He then switched the phone off and headed towards the hospital, breaking into a run after the feeling of uncertainty augmented with every passing moment.

~*~*~*~*~

Quatre entered the hospital for the second consecutive day.  He hadn't spent that much time in the hospital ever since Weiß had left Koneko and even then, he wasn't able to visit his friend daily for fear that his other teammates would be suspicious.  He hurried past the front desk, unwittingly ignoring the nurses and quickened his pace towards the end of the hallway to the elevators.  Finally, after 1 minute, he got to the elevators and punched the "up" button.  He tapped his foot in impatience as he waited for the elevator to arrive.

               "Ding!" the elevator went.

               "Finally!" he said exasperatedly.  The doors opened and a flash of blond appeared in his view.

               "Quatre?" the person in front of him said, looking at him in surprise.  Quatre panicked and hurried into the elevator, pushing the person in front of him back.

               "What are you doing?" she said.

               "Sh!" he whispered.  He then proceeded to close the elevator door and pushed the button to his destination.  Soon, the doors closed and Quatre faced the girl in front of him.

               "What are you doing here?" he asked, shaking.  He didn't know why he was shaking but his nerves seemed to be restless today.

               "I was visiting a friend," she said, pausing, before deciding to pursue her subject.  "You are Quatre, aren't you?"

               Quatre stared at her in shock.  "What makes you say that," he said nervously.

               "Someone told me."

               Quatre looked at her, confusion clouding his eyes.  "Who?"

               "It was some red-haired guy.  He told me that Quatre Winner wasn't dead and that he would be coming today.  What's wrong?"  Quatre had turned towards the panel above the buttons, looking at which floor they were on.  He turned back at her again.

               "Which floor did he go to?" he asked vehemently.

               "Quatre-"

               "Answer me, Dorothy," he said, demanding an answer.  Dorothy looked at him with uncertainty.  This was not the Quatre that she knew a year ago.

               "That Quatre's gone."

               "What?"

               "I am not Quatre anymore.  I have a new identity and I'll bet that he went to the 11th floor didn't he?"

               "Why, yes.  But…what's going on?"

               Quatre sighed in irritation.  "My life is falling apart," he whispered forlornly.  Then, the elevator arrived on the 11th floor and he ran out of the elevator. [3]

               "Quatre!" she yelled after him.  The coldness swept over her and she shivered.  It seemed to hinder her movement, gluing her to the spot.  Only until the doors closed that she was able to move again.  The elevator started to go down and Dorothy sank into her thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~

Trowa got to the hospital in amazing speed.  He dodged the morning crowd of employees heading towards their respective offices with grace and arrived in front of the hospital in less than 10 minutes.  He hurried up the stairs and walked at a fast pace into the hospital, heading towards the elevators.  Once he got to the elevators, his movements and Quatre's movements a mere 5 minutes before were strikingly similar.  He tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator came down and when the door opened, Dorothy stood in the middle of the elevator, still in shock.

               "Dorothy?" he said to the gray-eyed blond.  "Are you alright?"

               Dorothy snapped out of her reverie and looked at Trowa.  "Trowa?  What are you doing here?"

               "I was looking for a friend."

               "Oh.  May I ask who is it?"

               "It doesn't really matter right now.  I just need to go up."

               The doors closed and the elevator headed up towards the 11th floor once again.

               "Why are you going to the 11th floor?" she asked quietly.

               "Because that's where my friend is," Trowa said silently.  His actions reminded Dorothy of Quatre as he practically did the same thing a few minutes ago.  She debated whether to tell Trowa about Quatre or not and chose not to.  After all, Quatre should tell Trowa the truth himself; he owes Trowa that much.

               "I guess the others are coming too, huh?" she asked after a while.  The question was more of a statement rather than a question.

               "Yes," he said.  He looked at the LCD above the control panel and finally, the elevator arrived on floor 11.  The doors opened and the coldness of the floor swept into the elevator once again.  Trowa stepped out gingerly and looked back at Dorothy.

               "I'll tell the others where you are, okay?" she said.  Trowa only nodded, and ran down the same hallway that Quatre did some moment ago.

               "Good luck," she said.  "Hopefully Quatre will tell you everything."

~*~*~*~*~

As Trowa made his way down the corridor, his footsteps echoed down the hallway, creating an uncanny atmosphere.  Had he not set his mind upon finding Omi and the Omi-imposter, he would've been crept out by the eeriness of the floor.  When he got closer to Omi's room, he noticed that the room was open.

               "Damn," he said to himself softly and slowed down.  He tiptoed towards the room and peeked through the opening in the door.  Two people were inside besides the patient and there was a tension between the two.

               "What are you doing here, Schuldich?" the golden-brown haired boy said coldly.

               "Aw, Katzchen.  Why do you ask when you already know the answer?" the red-haired stranger said.  Trowa believed that the stranger was a German and was definitely a member of Schwartz.

               "Leave him out of this.  This is between you and me."

               "Why, Quatre?  You know perfectly well that it's not just between you and me.  It's between you and the rest of the world."

               "Quatre?" Trowa whispered to himself.  "Quatre's alive?"  He controlled himself from bursting into the room and grabbing the boy to get the truth.

               "Get of my head, you moron," Quatre hissed.

               "Why did you ever choose to be Omi, hmm?" Schuldich asked.  "We all know perfectly well what you're capable of, little empath."

               Quatre scowled.  "You don't know half of what I'm capable of."

               "Oh, really?  Why don't you tell that to Crawford?  Or why don't I just take Omi here with me."

               "Leave him alone!" Quatre shouted.  Suddenly, Trowa couldn't help himself and stumbled into the room.  Quatre turned around and blanched.  Schuldich took this moment to hold a gun to his neck and pinning his arms down.  The younger boy gasped.  Trowa looked at Schuldich.

               "Let him go," he said.

               "I don't think so," Schuldich said.  "He's very valuable and his gift will prove to be a priceless addition to Schwartz."

               "I'd rather die that join Schwartz," Quatre spat, getting over the shock of seeing Trowa.

               Schuldich laughed.  "I doubt you would want to die after we're done with you."

               "Let him go," Trowa repeated.

               "No.  I'm here to get either one of two things."  Schuldich grinned like the Cheshire Cat.  "Why don't you pick?  Should I take the sleeping angel or should I take the little empath?"  Quatre paled further.

               "Leave Omi out of this," he said one last time and brought his hands up to Schuldich's hand.  Schuldich cried out in pain, clutching his head.  He knelt down onto the floor yelling.  Quatre escaped and glared down at the telepath.

               "You little son-of-a-bitch!" he spat once the mental pain subsided.

               "Like I said, you don't know half of it," Quatre said grinning.  Unexpectedly, the door slammed open and Quatre turned to face a floating telekinetic. [4]

               "Nagi," said Quatre.  Behind Nagi were Farfarello and Crawford.  Farfarello looked like he was ready to spill some blood and Quatre gulped.  They were outnumbered 4 to 2.  Schuldich regained his strength and stood up.

               "Now, we can do this the hard way or the easy way.  Either way, you will lose," said Crawford flatly.

               Quatre looked around.  Trowa and he don't have a chance of winning, yet he ruled out going with them willingly.  He closed his eyes, knowing that what he was about to do was futile.  He opened his eyes and sent out a wave of empathy out towards his enemies, hoping that they would be affected by it.  The others were affected save for Schuldich, who knew to brace himself against Quatre's powers.  While the others fall onto the floor, Schuldich grabbed Quatre again and touched his forehead, knocking him out.  He then waved a hand at Trowa and the tall 19-year-old teenager fell to the floor, unconscious even before he hit the ground.

               As soon as Quatre was knocked out, the other members of Schwartz regained their strength and stood up.

               "Powerful, isn't he?" said Schuldich.

               "Let's go," said Crawford, straightening himself.

               "What about the boy?" asked Nagi quietly.  They all knew who they were talking about.

               "Leave him.  We don't need him."  Then, he disappeared down the hallway.  Farfarello followed.

               "Nagi," said Schuldich and he nodded.  Then, Quatre floated towards Nagi and the two left the room.  Schuldich took one last look at the comatose boy.

               "Sweet dreams, Omi," he said and left as well.

~*~*~*~*~

"Trowa…"

               "Trowa…"  Voices were calling to him.  Trowa struggled to wake and opened his eyes finally to see blurred faces.  He blinked and saw his friends standing over him.

               He groaned.  "What happened?" he asked, sitting up and holding his head.

               "You tell us," said Duo.  Trowa looked around.  The door was closed and the lights were turned on.  He was sitting on the floor of Omi's room and his friends were all here plus Dorothy.  Ken and Youji were leaning over the patient in the bed, looking as if they finally saw the reality of things.  Aya was standing in a far corner, his eyes upon the sleeping teenager as well.  He blinked a few more times and didn't see Quatre around.

               "Quatre!" he exclaimed.

               "What?" said Duo.

               "Quatre's alive," Trowa said.

               "Winner's dead for a year now, Barton," said Wufei.

               "No, Quatre's not dead.  He was here," said Trowa.

               "Has he gone mad?" asked Ken.

               "I'm not crazy.  Quatre Winner was here."  He turned to Dorothy.  "You knew, didn't you?"  All eyes turned towards Dorothy and she moved uneasily under the scrutiny.

               "Yes, I did.  But it's only because that red-haired German told me that Quatre was alive and he had shown me a picture of what he looked like now."

               "What were you doing here in the first place?" asked Heero.

               "I was visiting Quatre's grave and before I knew it, that stranger was beside me, telling me about Quatre."

               "That's just so like Schuldich," remarked Youji.

               "Why didn't you tell me in the elevator then?" asked Trowa.

               "You deserve to hear the truth from him.  He owes all of you that much," she said.

               "No, we don't deserve it," said Duo.  "He had a right to leave the world secretly."  He laughed sadly.  "We owe him.  He doesn't owe any of us."

               "Duo's right.  Quatre's always been the one to take all the responsibility and all the consequences.  We owe him a lot," said Heero.

               "Now is not the time to be feeling guilty," said Wufei.  "If we were to find Winner, we should start now."

               "But how?" asked Youji.

               "Simple, we hack," said Duo.

               "Nagi, the telekinetic in Schwartz, is a computer genius, much like Omi, or Quatre.  Be prepared to fail," said Aya.

               "Ah, we're up to the challenge," said Duo.  "Right, Hee-chan?"  Heero said nothing, but simply looked at the patient.  The similarities between Omi and Quatre in disguise were uncanny.

               "Shouldn't we call Manx?" said Ken quietly.  "She was the one who recruited Quatre.  She owes us the truth."

               "True.  However, there are a lot of truths that Kritiker has under cover.  I perceive that this will be one that they would want to reveal," said Youji solemnly.

               "Truths are not meant to be hidden," said Trowa.

               "But sometimes, the truth is more painful than a lie," said Dorothy.

------

There we go!  I noticed that this chapter was slightly shorter than the other ones, but I had to cut it off there to make the next chapter some 5 pages to 6 pages long.  I also noticed that they don't speak Japanese that often anymore, but that works since the four Weiß members don't really communicate with each other ever since the pilots showed up.  Anyways, Dorothy is here to stay until the rest of the fic here and there.  She's going to play a minor role and Relena will show up in the next few chapters, just not in the next chapter.  Alrighty, so now that they know.  What will happen next?  I'm going to be evil and make this fic really long…  ^_^;

               Well, g2g study for AP history and practice my flute and do all these scholastic stuff…  Ja!

Sayako

------

               "Just because I look frail, it doesn't mean that I'm not strong," Quatre stated.  Then, he spun once and kicked the telepath in the face, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious.  Quatre hurried to the door and opened it quietly.  He looked up and down the dark hallway bordering his room and, seeing that the coast was clear, ran barefooted down the hallway, disappearing into the darkness.

------

Notes:

[1] MIA=Missing in Action (Though I don't really know why they're missing in action when they aren't fighting or on a mission)

[2] No, Heero's doesn't have powers.  He's just speaking from observation, and he's suspicious of "Omi" (Quatre).

[3] Aw… Poor Quatre.

[4] Let me explain.  In this fic, Quatre's an empath, right?  His powers are with emotions.  I'm allowing him to be able to manipulate feelings and hence, Schuldich felt an immense amount of pain when Quatre touched him, amplifying Quatre's powers on him.  Got that?  Good!  ^_^


	7. Running Away

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  Thanx to everyone who's reviewed!  This makes me want to write more!!!!!!  ^_______________^**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

`blah`-telepathic thoughts

Chapter 6 – Running Away

               In the midst of the swirling darkness, Quatre slowly pieced himself back together.  His mind had been broken into pieces when Schuldich had knocked him out.  When he finally finished, he gradually regained consciousness.  He heard the beeping of the heart monitor and slowly opened his eyes.  The sounds that the machines emitted rang sharply in the silence.  As he adjusted to the brightness of the room, he saw that he was in a white washed room.  He felt himself wearing a hospital gown with cold metals attached to his forehead and his chest.  He blinked sleepily and looked at himself.  He saw an IV hooked up to his right arm, injected some unknown chemical into his bloodstream.  He moved his left hand and brought it up to his forehead.  He felt two electrodes attached, explaining why he felt cold metals on his forehead.  He suspected that there were two electrodes attached to monitor his heart as well.

               Then, he carefully sat up, and lay back upon the head of the bed.  There seemed to be something missing inside of him, like his soul was hollow, or something.  He couldn't put his finger on it.

               `Ah, Katzchen, you're awake,` the nasal voice of the telepath intruded into his mind.  With that comment, the red-haired German entered the room, looking at the boy in front of him smugly.

               Quatre was going to retort back to the German telepathically but gasped as pain shot through his brain.  He clutched his head and shut his eyes in reaction.

               "Ah, it works!" exclaimed Schuldich.  Quatre cracked open an eye and glared at the man in front of him.

               "What the hell did you do to me?" he hissed out.

               "Well, we tested a chemical that was supposed to block the powers of the psychic, and now we know that it works."

               "What's the use of this chemical?  If you block my powers, I'm no use to you."  Quatre smirked mischievously.

               Schuldich laughed and Quatre's smirk left.

               "You don't get it, do you, Katzchen?  You're not really our main objective.  You're just an obstacle that we've eliminated.  The only reason why we're keeping you is to bait the others."  Quatre took a deep breath and looked down.

               "As we speak, Nagi is leaving a trail on the net for your friends to follow to this place and when they get here, they will be destroyed, leaving you to us and we'll test another chemical on you to make you one of us."

               "Never."

               "Are you so sure?"

               "Yes."  Quatre pulled out the IV needle and jumped from his bed to attack Schuldich.  The wires were pulled off and Quatre was going to hit the taller man but was prevented.  Schuldich held Quatre wrist tightly.

               "I wouldn't suggest that if I were you," he said to the younger boy.  Then, he looked down, changing his tone.  "Such a pretty face.  I would've sworn that you were a girl.  With the platinum gold hair, the heart-shaped face, and those clear blue-green eyes, you look just like a girl."  Quatre looked away, knowing full well that they had restored his real appearance, and felt Schuldich's arm pulling him towards his captor.  Schuldich lifted the younger boy's chin up and leaned down.  Quatre then took this moment to bring his knee up, catching the German in the groin.  Schuldich grunted in pain and stepped away from the boy. [1]

               "Just because I look frail, it doesn't mean that I'm not strong," Quatre stated.  Then, he spun once and kicked the telepath in the face, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious.  Quatre hurried to the door and opened it quietly.  He looked up and down the dark hallway bordering his room and, seeing that the coast was clear, ran barefooted down the hallway, disappearing into the darkness.

~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure about this?" asked Ken as he looked at the abandoned warehouse that loomed in front of them.  It was midnight, two days after Quatre's disappearance.  The seven had been worried about their friend's welfare ever since he disappeared again and sought for an explanation from Quatre for all these events of these last few days and the days before as well.  The gray clouds overhead seemed ominous in this cloudy night as rain was predicted in the forecast.  As they approached the warehouse, cold wind bit at them while darkness fell over like a blanket.

               "I'm positive.  I traced their trail to this location," said Heero.

               "What if they deliberately left a trail on the net?" asked Youji. [2]

               "We'll just have to take the chance," said Trowa.  Aya nodded.

               "Let's go then," said Duo, taking out his gun.  Each person took out their own weapons, ready for an ambush if there was one.

               Heero quietly pushed opened the door, which creaked with age.  The warehouse seemed empty and no one seemed to be in there.  Darkness filled their vision as they stepped in.

               "Something's not right," Trowa said.  Suddenly, lights flashed on one by one, as if someone had turned them on.

               "Yes.  Something's definitely not right," said Youji.  Heero looked around and saw a black box near the door.  It flashed between red and green as he passed his hands over the light.

               "It's set off by a sensor," he said, standing back up and facing his comrades.

               "Who would put a sensor if the warehouse's abandoned?" asked Ken.

               "Maybe it's a trap," said Wufei.

               "No, if it is, Schwartz would've shown up by now," said Aya.  "It's not their type to kill us without facing us directly."

               "Should we split up?" asked Duo.

               "Why not," said Ken.  "I'll go with Aya and Youji."

               "Heero and I'll be a group."

               "I'll go with Wufei then," said Trowa.

               Aya handed Wufei and Heero each a walkie-talkie.  "If you found something, just radio us."  Heero and Wufei both nodded.  Then, the three groups split up.

~*~*~*~*~

"Wufei," started Trowa.  He didn't whisper, suspecting that the warehouse was indeed abandoned.

               "Hmm?" Wufei replied, looking left and right for his friend.

               "Do you think we'll find him?" he asked, as if in despair.  Wufei stopped and turned to look at the latter.

               "What makes you think that?" he asked worriedly.

               "I just have a feeling that we're not going to find him here.  What if he's gone?  What if he's dead?  What if-"  Wufei cut him off.

               "Don't think that way.  Don't give up on him.  You know that he's stronger than we know."

               "Somehow I just feel that I've been leaving him alone way too long.  It's my fault that he left in the first place."

               "No, Trowa."  Trowa looked at the Chinese in surprise.  Wufei had never used their first names before.  Wufei said in a soft voice, "It's not your fault that Quatre left.  We were all to blame.  We all didn't notice the problems hidden within him until it was too late.  He was very sensitive of us and we seemed to take him for granted.  We forgot that he was only human as well."  He paused.  "Everyone has ways to get away from their responsibilities, for Quatre, it meant taking over another person's life.  The empathy that he was born with proved to be too burdensome to him; it put his under stress all the time, having all those responsibilities as the WEI CEO.  The emotional strain must've been way too much for him, that's why he left.  He was given a choice and he took the one that would give him freedom that he hadn't felt since he was a kid, ever since he was born as the Winner heir." [3]

               "Then, wouldn't death be the easier way out?" questioned Trowa.

               "No, it wouldn't.  Think about it.  If he really died, we would not be together now.  We knew that it was impossible for the body to disappear under the pile of cars.  He understood how we worked.  We worked best together, that's why he tried so hard to get us working together and that's why he succeeded.  I doubt anyone would really want to die to get away from reality.  Quatre didn't want to die.  He simply wanted the life of a normal teenager—if you call having his night job normal."  He laughed lightly and Trowa snickered.

               "I guess I can sympathize with that.  I just wish that he would've at least confided in us."

               "If he did, he would still be trapped," said Wufei.  Then, he started looking again.  "Don't give up on him.  If we do, he'll be lost forever."  Trowa pondered on Wufei's words for a moment.  Then, a new sparkle returned to his eyes and he ran after the boy.

~*~*~*~*~

After what seemed like eternity to Trowa, the three-way radio beeped.

               "Wufei here," said Wufei, speaking into the radio.

               "It's Duo.  I think we've found something."

               "Where are you?"

               "Where are you?"

               "We're on first floor, near the West Entrance," said Wufei, looking around for a landmark.

               "You see the hallway on the right of the entrance?" asked Duo.

               Wufei and Trowa both looked towards that direction and saw a narrow dark hallway.

               "Affirmative."

               "Keep on going down that hallway until you reach the end.  Take the stairs on the left up.  We're in the room two doors down."

               "Alright.  We'll meet you there then."  Then he switched the radio off.

               "Shall we go?" Trowa said teasingly.

               "It's nice to see you smile again, friend," said Wufei and they headed towards Duo.

               The dark hallway seemed ominous.  The dim light bulbs above their heads did nothing to improve their vision and they had to use mainly touch to navigate.  When they finally got to the end, they turned left and headed up.  Their footsteps echoed up and down the stairs as they walked up.  Finally, they arrived at the second floor, which was considerably brighter than the hallway below and stepped into the room where Duo and Heero were looking at 16 televisions.

               "Whoa," said Ken, who had just arrived as well.

               "What the hell is going on?" asked Youji.

               "Schwartz was monitoring the perimeters and there are tons of video tapes," said Heero.

               "But look at this," said Duo, holding a video up.  It was labeled "Kitten."

               "Quatre?" asked Trowa.

               "Yep."  He popped the tape into the VCR and the screens showed the fight between Quatre, now in his true self, and Schuldich in full detail, with clear sounds and how Schwartz decided to leave the warehouse after Quatre had left.  Soon, the tape came to a stop.

               "So, I was right.  He ran away," said Trowa.

               "Why didn't Quatre communicate to Schuldich telepathically?" asked Youji.

               "Quatre had empathy," answered Aya.  "He could communicate telepathically, but they blocked his powers; that's why he hissed in pain before Schuldich entered."

               "How did you know that?" asked Ken.

               "His file was on public records and he had downloaded all of his public records onto his laptop in the trailer.  I was searching for some stuff on the net and saw an entire folder of Quatre's files, even the ones recorded by the Preventers."

               "Did you suspect something about Quatre then?" asked Trowa.

               "No, the Omi that we knew was known for his eclectic collections of odd things.  I simply thought that he was interested in knowing about the only dead Gundam pilot that's all." [4]

               "So what now?  What did Winner most likely do?" asked Wufei.

               "He most likely ran away," said Heero.  "By the way that he ran, he was desperate to get away from all of us." [5]

~*~*~*~*~

A month later, Quatre left Tokyo in silence.  His hair was longer and he wore a pair of shades even though the sun was covered by the dark grey clouds above, forecasting snow that was due on the first day of winter.  He took the less traveled roads between Tokyo and Kyoto and arrived in the former capital of Ancient Japan in some three hours.  He parked beside an apartment and pulled his shades down a bit, looking at the small apartment that would become his home in a few minutes.  The apartment was Kritiker owned and he looked at it without any expression.  The last encounter with Schwartz had left him with an empty heart, unfeeling and desolate.  He pulled his winter coat tighter and stepped out of the warmth that the car offered.

               Cold, biting wind hit his face relentlessly, making his face flushed with chapped skin.  He hurried to close the car door and popped up the trunk.  He grabbed the two suitcases inside and slammed the trunk shut.  Then, he hastened his steps toward the apartment and stepped into the lobby.  Snow had suddenly fallen when he stepped out of the car and by the time he stepped into the apartment, he was drenched with snow.  He dusted some of the snow off and walked towards the front desk.

               'We've been expecting you, Bombay,' the guard said and handed him a pair of keys.

               "Arigatou Gozaimasu.  Onegai, watashi ni Tachibana Miyuki nazukeru," {Thank you.  Please, call me Miyuki Tachibana} said Quatre, his voice was light and seemed lively.

               "Hai, Tachibana-chan," the guard said.  Quatre smiled weakly and proceeded towards the elevator.  His room was at the top of the building; the only one on the floor.  The other Kritiker agents who lived there were all assigned to other places, so he became the only occupant up there.  The elevator was clean and common, just like the building.  However, this apartment was rather glamorous on the inside.  As the elevator approached the top floor, Quatre looked at his reflection in the mirror in the elevator.  His hair was at shoulder length and dyed black.  He took off his glasses and a pair of dark brown eyes stared back at him.  Both he and Manx agreed to have him leave Tokyo and cross-dress so that the others wouldn't suspect a thing.  Birman was notified of this as well and both women took it upon themselves to make him into the ideal lady. [6]

               As he left the memory, he looked at himself once again.  He wore a large dark winter jacket with a turtleneck sweater underneath.  He wore a pair of jeans and a pair of high heels at Manx's request to convince others that he was a lady; as if the disguise wasn't enough.  He refused to put on any make-up even though he did put on some lipstick and mascara.  He felt utterly embarrassed dressing like he did and was uncomfortable in the pair of jeans.  Yet, in order to fool everyone, he had to do it.  They even went as far as to stuff the bras that Manx and Birman had gotten him to make him a "real" lady.  At first, he had second thoughts, but when Manx mentioned Trowa's name, Quatre was determined and started to wear the stuffed bras as a routine.

               Finally, the elevator arrived on the top floor with a "ding."  Quatre stepped out of the elevator and looked at the key.  It was marked 702.  He looked around and saw the door marked 702.  He walked over and opened the door.  Inside was suited for a lady and very clean.  The room was Victorian styled and he looked around, awed by the architecture of the room.  The wallpaper was cream colored with blue flowers.  The floor was covered with wine colored carpet.  The living room was clean and kept well.  A TV set was propped upon a table near the windows overlooking the historical neighborhood of the city and a leather black sofa was situated near the front door.  It seemed like he was living in a hotel; everything was so neat.  He suspected that Manx had taken the liberty to give him the best in Kyoto.  The kitchen could be seen to his left, with a counter separating the kitchen from the living room.

               He walked down the hallway towards the bedroom and a door leading to the bathroom was on his right.  He walked further down and entered the bedroom.  He was awed by the grandeur of the room.  His bedroom seemed rather luxurious from where he lived before.  Light blue flower prints dotted the wallpaper around him and the wine colored carpet tickled his feet.  He set his bags down and looked around.  There was a desk and an office chair as well as a large window overlooking the city center.  There were shelves, cabinets, and a lamp stand next to the queen-sized, four-poster bed with a telephone on it.  Then, he noticed a radio on a shelf and turned it on.

               'Good afternoon, Kyoto!' the radio DJ said.  'This is Hayashi and you are listening to 103.1 FM, NJPR: the music station of all J-Pop.  This next request is a sad way to start the winter, but it suits the atmosphere today.  The song is "Powder Snow," written and sung by Hamasaki Ayumi.'

               Quatre had heard of Ayumi in his high school days but never gotten around to listen to one of her songs.  The piano intro hit a sad spot in his heart and he sat down on the queen sized bed.

"mou hitori kiri ni shite oite hoshii no{I want to be left alone.}

"dare mo watashi wo shiranu basho he nigetai no{I want to escape to a place where no one knows me.}

"sonna koto machigatte iru to semerareyou to kore ijou{That I'm wrong about that, that it's my fault,}

"kokoro ga mou motanai ashita ha iranai no{is all my heart has. I don't need tomorrow.}

"nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai{Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.}

"ima nara shiroi yuki tachi ga nagashite keshite kureru deshou{The white snow flows and muffles my tears.}

"nee tasukete{Please help me.}

"sou koukai nado hitotsu mo shite nai no{I don't have even one regret.}

"itsu mo donna toki mo ima wo ikite kita{I've always been living in the present}

"omokake mo ashiato sae nani hitotsu nokoranai kurai{So that I don't leave even a single trace or footprint,}

"rousoku ga tokete kono akari kietara{The candle melts down, this light is extinguished.}

"ookoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai{Can I scream at the top of my lungs? Until my voice withers away.}

"ima nara shiroi yuki tachi mo subete yurushite kureru deshou{The white snow will forgive me for everything.}

"nee onegai{Please.}

"ryoute hirogete kagayaku yuki atsumetai dake na no ni ne{I spread my arms wide. I just want to gather the shining snow.}

"doushite... hakanai... {But why? It's so fleeting...}

"nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai{Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.}

"ima nara shiroi yuki tachi ga nagashite keshite kureru deshou{The white snow flows and muffles my tears.}

"ookoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai{Can I scream at the top of my lungs? Until my voice withers away.}

"ima nara shiroi yuki tachi mo subete yurushite kureru deshou{The white snow will forgive me for everything.}

"nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai{Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.}

"ookoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai{Can I shout loudly? Until my voice withers away.}

"nakitai dake naite mo ii? {Can I cry as much as I want to?}

"ookoe de sakende mo ii? {Can I scream at the top of my lungs?}

"yuki yamu made."{Until the snow stops} [7]

Quatre sobbed as the song came to an end and leaned backwards, falling into the plush bed.  He clutched the blankets and cried, letting his tears to stain the blanket.  The song basically summed up all what he felt then and he couldn't keep his emotions in check any longer.  He poured out his emotions, drying the well of emotions inside up as his powers were beyond his reach.  Soon, he cried himself to sleep and slept fitfully.

~*~*~*~*~

For the next few days, Quatre spent his time taking classes from the nearby Kyoto University, working part-time at a Kritiker-operated coffee shop, and especially visiting Omi in room 701, which had a design mirroring Quatre's own room.

               Omi had been transported to the Kritiker apartment upon Quatre's own request.  A door was set up between room 701 and 702 so that Quatre became responsible for Omi's welfare.  Even though Manx and Birman protested, they knew that Quatre was determined to stay with Omi.  They moved Omi and held Quatre responsible of any thing happen to Omi and Quatre was well aware of the stakes.  If the others knew, they would question Manx and Birman.  Hopefully, they won't tell them the truth.

               Now, without his powers, Quatre seemed lost.  His mind was empty of emotions and he became distant.  He rarely had any missions from his superiors, which were still Manx and Birman.  He suspected that the others must've known that he ran away and must've asked Manx or Birman of his whereabouts and the two women wouldn't have told them anything.  They would simply say that Omi was dead after being in coma so long and Quatre, suffering from grief, committed suicide.  Quatre laughed morbidly when Manx had told him that and Manx seemed unaware of Quatre's own mental breakdown.  Omi was the only one that was keeping him sane and he wondered if he should help the boy to get back from this comatose state.  Now, that seemed impossible as he was without his powers and it had already been 1 year or so since Omi went into a coma.  It seemed hopeless for Omi to come back, but Quatre didn't give up on him.  He could feel Omi's determination to regain consciousness even though he had no powers. [8]

               That was what drew Quatre to the supposedly vibrant boy. 

~*~*~*~*~

A month had passed since Quatre's disappearance.  The Gundam pilots reported to the Preventers that they were taking a leave of office until they find their friend.  When Weiß had asked Manx about Quatre, Manx refused to say anything.  The three members spent their time in the hospital looking at the real Omi.  They felt awkward now to look at the young boy, whom they thought was vibrant and cheerful.  Perhaps Quatre was so into Omi's life that he had taken on Omi's own persona.  The pilots remained in Tokyo to search for their friend, knowing that Quatre couldn't have gone far without being exposed.  In their opinion, Quatre was loyal to Kritiker and if he did leave Tokyo, he would still be in Japan, working for the underground organization.  Often times, they came back spiritless and ate little.  They continued to search only because of what Quatre said about not giving up.

               On that fateful day, when both Weiß and the pilots decided to get their minds off of sad things upon Duo's persistent request, they came back to the trailer with Manx and Birman there, looking forlorn.  Manx bit her lip a bit before finally acknowledging the group.  Kritiker had been partly surprised when the pilots were alive and living with one of their groups.  However, they dare not pursue the subject, knowing full well the capabilities of Weiß.  After the mission with Omi, now revealed as Quatre, and Ken going against Kritiker upon changing their views about their targets, both Manx and Birman were well aware of the fact that Weiß would start questioning them and their reasoning behind some of the missions, like the one regarding the Gundam pilots.  Quatre was reluctant to kill them yet went along simply because the others had agreed to it.

               Now, since Quatre's secret was revealed and since Quatre's disappearance, the Gundam pilots and Weiß both became friends on a level that the friendship could not be destroyed by a simple manipulation by Kritiker.  Thus, it was for Kritiker's own protection to keep the two groups together. [9]

               "Doushitano, Manx-san?" asked Ken.  He seemed perturbed by the fact that their superiors somehow expressed more sadness than they did before.

               "Weiß," Manx acknowledged quietly.  'Preventers.  I have bad news.'

               "What kind of a bad news?" asked Heero.

               "Wait, what?  What bad news?" asked Duo, his ears twitched when he heard that there were bad news.

               "Omi…" Manx trailed off, overwhelmed by emotion.

               "Omi's dead," said Birman, her voice cracking slightly.  "He died last night.  Quatre…he…committed suicide," she lied resolvedly.  Heero looked at her with suspicion.

               "Where are the bodies?" he asked logically.

               "This can't be," said Youji.  "Quatre, posing as our little Omittichi, died?"  The lit cigarette dangled upon his moving lips and threatened to fall off.

               "Where are the bodies?" asked Aya.

               "They've been stolen," said Manx softly, acting as if she really was sobbing.  She acted pretty well considered the fact that they bought the act.

               "How were they stolen?  They're both in the hospital!" exclaimed Ken.

               "Apparently, someone from the inside somehow knew about the two of them and arranged it to steal their bodies for their organs to be sold on the black market," said Birman quietly.  Trowa clutched his hand into a fist; he looked down and trembled with sadness and anger.

               Suddenly, he burst out, "How could this have happened!?  Huh?  You guys controlled the hospital!  I doubt that he really is dead!  You guys took him away again!"

               "Trowa…" said Duo, concerned of his friend's welfare.  Everyone was slightly shocked by Trowa's own accusation of Kritiker.

               'Manx, Birman, we're going to have to ask you to leave,' said Aya solemnly.  Trowa's accusation made sense.

               "Demo-" started Manx, but one look into Aya's eyes showed that he could care less of Kritiker currently.  Manx looked at Birman and the two women left resignedly.

               Trowa slumped down onto the floor sobbing for his lost little one.  "They're lying," he muttered.  "They're lying.  Why won't you come back?"  Duo knelt down in front of the taller man and pulled him into an embrace, comforting the troubled soul.  All the rest of the people looked down at the floor, each trapped within their own turbulent thoughts. [10]

------

Yay!  Chapter 5's done!  And Spring Break!  I'll hopefully get the next two chapters out by the end of the break, but I have to study for the AP test…  _  I'll try to see if I can finish the chapters while studying, finishing projects, and reading stupid books, as well as writing a paper for history.  *sigh*  There's so much to do!  And so little time!  ^_^  Well, 'till then!  Ja ne!

Sayako

------

               "Living in Kyoto was much more different than living in Tokyo.  The capital of ancient Japan was marked by history and history surrounded the city.  Even though it was just as modern as the bustling Tokyo, it was like a paradox: the historical modernity.  Quatre had quit his job at the coffee shop a few days after arriving in Kyoto.  His dry well of emotions made him a human iceberg.  Posing as a girl named Tachibana Miyuki, many university students, especially men, sought to befriend her.  However, her cold personality proved to be unbreakable.  She was dying inside and no one noticed.  Soon, she quit school as well, deciding to pursue her college courses online."

------

Notes and Translations:

[1] Hentai Schuldich!!!!!  XP

[2] Amazing… Youji has intuitions…  ^__________________^

[3] Wufie is wise…  He's cool then XP.

[4] Omi has an eclectic collection?  Yeah… I just made that up.  ^_^;

[5] Bad Quatre…  Running away again.  ^_^

[6] Ay!!!!!!!  Quatre's a girl… Heh heh…  What can you expect from me?  I always think that Quatre is more like a girl than a boy…  XP

[7] "Powder Snow" is a copyright of Hamasaki Ayumi.  I do not own it and follows all the legal junk (sort of)  ^_^;   If you want a copy of it, buy the CD…  It's a really cool song.

[8] My version of an empath…  In this fic, an empath is a person who has a disorder where they have no emotions.  It's incurable.  He or she has powers to allow them to take emotions from other people to make them humane—an interesting aspect.  He can take parts from the emotions and piece them into a different emotion, making him rather emotional at times.  That's why Quatre's often the leader of the people.  He can't stay isolated for long periods of time.  He likes to socialize with friends.  Anyways, by blocking his powers, Schwartz is making a cold, unstable assassin.  It was sister2death's idea about why vampires consume blood in "A Vampire Prince Born" that inspired me to make my own version of empathy.  Thank you!

[9] Does that answer your question, Wildfire's Flame?

[10] Poor Trowa.  Evil Kritiker!!!!!!!!


	8. To Meet Again

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: My Japanese sux!!!  And thanx to Wishful Thinker who was the only one to review my previous chapter.  Arigatou!  Well, here's the next chapter…  and please review!!!!!  XP  ^_^;  -^._.^-**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 7 – To Meet Again

               Living in Kyoto was much more different than living in Tokyo.  The capital of ancient Japan was marked by history and history surrounded the city.  Even though it was just as modern as the bustling Tokyo, it was like a paradox: the historical modernity.  Quatre had quit his job at the coffee shop a few days after arriving in Kyoto.  His dry well of emotions made him a human iceberg.  Posing as a girl named Tachibana Miyuki, many university students, especially men, sought to befriend her.  However, her cold personality proved to be unbreakable.  She was dying inside and no one noticed.  Soon, she quit school as well, deciding to pursue her college courses online. [1]

               Now, Quatre spends most of the days in the apartments, leaving the confines of her apartment only to get the necessities of everyday life.  She spent most of the time in Omi's bedroom, working as a website designer.  She never smiled and everyone seemed to have forgotten her, except for, of course, Kritiker.

               Kritiker sent some bags of IV every single month for Omi and Quatre became so accustomed to the routine that she often hooked up the IV for Omi without really paying attention to what she was doing.  It was a nasty habit that she developed with doing two things at the same time.  She sought to get rid of the bad habit, but found that she was utterly bored out of her mind, making her unable to change the habit.

               Since she spent that much time indoors, Quatre decided to buy a stationary bike to keep in shape.  She often went to the nearby archery to practice on her skills, staying sharp.  Other times, she would leave the apartment at night to take a midnight jogging around the park across the street.  However, she never stayed out for more than an hour, always hurrying back to the apartment to her charge.  She slept lightly and frequently, as there were no missions for her.  At times, she would practice to make herself warmer than she was as not to arouse suspicion from Kritiker if they chose to suddenly drop by one of these days to give her a mission.

               That became the norm for her and with each passing second, she loses more of herself.

~*~*~*~*~

Several days had passed by since the news of Quatre's supposed death had been revealed to Weiß and the pilots.  At first, they doubted the trustworthiness of the two women and went to the hospital to check it out.  Indeed, the room that Omi once occupied was empty, cleaned up by the janitors, leaving no trace of any kidnappings or that he was still alive.  They were near-hysterics when they found out the "truth" and both Omi's and Quatre's funerals were silently held at a cemetery near the trailer.  Trowa refused to go, somehow seeing through the layers of lies that Manx and Birman had woven to cover up the truth about Quatre.

               After the funeral, Weiß returned to their stations and a new operative was brought in.  It was a 20 year old boy with a mop of black hair with the name of Ito Shinji.  His codename was Siamese.  Shinji's personality was the direct opposite that of Bombay's and it would take a while for Weiß to get used to the silent young member.  However, Shinji was the next best hacker after Bombay.

               While Weiß returned to their life, the Preventers all went back to their own jobs, protecting peace; all but Trowa.  The three pilots had attempted to convince Trowa to leave the past behind, but Trowa refused, recalling the time when Quatre didn't give up on him and searched for him when everyone thought he was dead.  He went to the spaceport with him and saw them take off towards the main L1 colony before heading back to Tokyo.  He sent a letter to Une telling her that he would be taking a leave of absence for a long while.  Now, he drove all over Japan in search of the little angel, knowing that Quatre was indebted to Kritiker for his new life.  He never stopped and looked all around him to find his little one.

               Dorothy had left long after when she was given the news that Quatre was dead.  She fell into a stupor of sadness and didn't attend his funeral.  No one knew where she'd gone. [2]

~*~*~*~*~

Quatre went shopping at the nearby market when she saw him, the one who reminded of her past.  She frowned and turned sharply back, walking away from him.  Fortunately, he wasn't looking towards her and she exhaled in relief as she entered the lobby of the apartments.  The guard acknowledged her and held out a package for her.  She scrunched her face in confusion and walked over to the front desk.

               'It's from Manx,' he said quietly.  Miyuki nodded, accepting the package, and went up to her room.

               As the elevator sped her up, she bit her lip in nervousness.  She wondered what was in the package.  It couldn't have been another package of IV; she'd received that a few days before and there was enough to last the entire month.

               The double doors slid open with a "ding" and she stepped out, walking towards her room.  She quickly opened the door and entered into the confines of her apartment.  As soon as she stepped into the room, she closed the door and slumped to the ground, leaning upon the closed wooden door.  She dropped the groceries and the package onto the ground next to her and laughed hollowly at herself for running away from her former friend.  Then, she stared at the ceiling, blanking out.

               Suddenly, as if she was sick, a series of coughs racked her body.  She covered her mouth as she coughed violently and suddenly felt something wet sprayed into her palm.  The coughing stopped and she pulled her hand away, looking desolately at the dots of blood in her palm.  She stood up hurriedly and ran to the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror.

               Her lips was unusually red and her skin unusually pale.  As she swallowed to take this in, she couldn't help but notice the coppery metallic taste in her mouth.  Panicking, she turned on the water faucet hastily and washed her hands.  Then, she quickly rinsed out her mouth, staining the water red as it entered down the drain.  She splashed some water onto her face and turned the faucet off.  She dried herself and looked back at her reflection.

               Her reflection was unnerving.  The black hair served to make her complexion paler, making her ghostlike.  A tear found its way down her cheek and she looked at it in surprise.  She wiped it off and went back into the living room.  She picked the package back up and sat down on the couch, the package in her lap.  She bit her bottom lip before deciding to open it. [3]

               She tore open the bag and dumped its contents unceremoniously onto the coffee table in front of the couch.  Inside was a letter, an unlabeled medicinal container with several pills, a video tape, a file folder, and a box full of darts.  Quatre frowned, knowing that Kritiker was giving her a mission.

               She was relieved that Manx did not choose to give her the mission personally.  She popped the tape into the VCR and waited for the tape to start.

               'Bombay,' the man in the tape started.  Quatre looked at it intently.

               'Since the establishment of the ESUN, Japan has refused to join the organization.  Now, Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian has made plans to visit Japan on a diplomatic mission for ESUN for a week in the upcoming month.  Your mission is to serve as Darlian's bodyguard.  You will work with the Preventers as well as Weiß and Manx will keep you posted throughout the week. [4]

               'It is your obligation as a Kritiker agent to accept this mission.  If you fail to do otherwise, we will have no choice but to eliminate you.'  Then the screen blanked and static filled the screen.  Quatre stared at the TV in shock.  Kritiker has always given her a choice whether or not to accept the mission.  Now it seems that it was trying to regain its authority over its groups, ending the decade of salutary neglect.  She sighed resignedly and opened the letter.  It was from Manx.

               "Tachibana-chan," the letter started.

               'I know the obligation for you to take on this mission seem rather sudden.  However, all the other operatives of Kritiker are all currently on their own assignments.  You are our reserve; thence, this mission had to be given to you.  Although it seems unreasonable for Kritiker to be protecting the Vice Foreign Minister, the truth of the matter is that in these past few days, the ESUN Embassy in Tokyo has been receiving threats to assassinate Vice Foreign Minister Darlian.  Even with the Preventers guarding her, we believe it is best if a Kritiker operative was helping as well.  Weiß is only there temporarily.  They have their own missions and guarding Darlian is their second priority.  That is why you have to return to Tokyo.

               'I know that you are reluctant to see your friends again, but this mission is crucial.  You must keep the Minister safe, or there would be another war between the colonies and Earth.  You don't have to worry about Omi.  I'll come by next month to stay in Kyoto for the week while you are in Tokyo. [5]

               'If you want to, you could take safety precautions and take the pills that are included in the package.  They are experimental drugs designed to change a person's body structure from that of a boy to a girl, and vice versa.  If you choose to change, you must take the pills for an entire month and I'll send a retired Kritiker operative over to take care of you while you undergo the changes.  Don't worry.   The drug had been tested and it works, without side effects.  Reply as soon as possible via network. [6]

               'Good luck, Miyuki.

               "Manx."

               Quatre dropped the letter on the table and covered her face with her hands, getting frustrated by the minute.  She sighed and looked at the container filled with tiny pills.  She pondered if she should take the pills.  If she does, the Preventers would not suspect her being Quatre; however, down sides to being a girl sent shivers down her spine.  It was a hard decision to make and only she could make it for herself.  Finally, she decided to take the pills; she was dying after all. [7]

~*~*~*~*~

"Hello?"

               "Hey Trowa!"

               "Hey Duo, what's going on?"

               "Well, I'm stuck with calling duties to the 'vacationing' Preventers," Duo said humorously.  Trowa laughed as he looked at the vid screen with Duo's comical gestures.  "Anyways, Relena's going to visit Tokyo in her next trip around the world and the four of us are called to protect her when she's in Tokyo.  Well, actually, we have to protect her throughout the trip."

               Trowa frowned.

               "Bummer, huh?  I know you want to keep searching for Quatre, but Une has ordered all of us to take this mission."

               "Why?"

               "I have no clue.  She's rather secretive and reminds me of Manx, you know."

               "I guess I'll take it then.  I can't seem to find Quatre anyways."

               "You're in Kyoto right?"

               "Yeah," said Trowa.  "Why?"

               "Well, we're going to work with an official by the name of Tachibana Miyuki.  She lives in Kyoto currently and she's been told to work with us during Relena's stay.  You want the picture and her records?"

               "Sure, why not?  I'll just call her sometimes and get to know her."

               "Tell me what she's like okay?" asked Duo, sending the files to Trowa.

               "Don't tell me that you're going to try to hit on her," said Trowa teasingly.  He couldn't help it.  Duo's cheerful countenance made his day brighter.

               "Yeah right!  I just happened to have a boyfriend thank you."  Trowa laughed.  "Oh, shut up.  I'm trying to set other people up."

               "What are you, a matchmaker?"

               "You could say that…" Duo smiled mischievously.  "By the way, we're going to work with Weiß too."

               "I thought that Weiß was disbanded until they found a replacement," said Trowa questioningly.

               "Yeah.  They already did.  The new member's called Ito Shinji.  I must say, based on his files, he's as different from Quatre as white is from black."

~*~*~*~*~

The day after she received her mission, Quatre started taking the pills, and was confined to her bed as the changes used up all of her energy.

               That first morning before she took the pill, a woman by the name of Mikiko came to live with her as her nurse.  Quatre apologized profusely to her that she didn't have a spare bed, but Mikiko simply cut her off, saying that she wouldn't be living in this particular apartment but that she would be next door.  Quatre felt rather embarrassed at her actions and Mikiko had a good sense of humor.  She was in her fifties yet she had the energy of a teenager.  Over the month, Mikiko hovered over the two teenagers like a mother hen and Quatre was rather grateful for her hospitality.  The older woman taught her the more intimate things about a woman's body.  At first, Quatre's face burned with heat whenever Mikiko discussed about a woman's body and Mikiko would always tease her about that.  Soon, however, she grew used to the information and discussed with Mikiko about certain "distresses" openly.

               Surprisingly, Quatre was a great actor, becoming an actress in fact.  Mikiko did not suspect her actual emotionless self or the fact that she was dying.  This was a relief to her as she smiled wistfully at the idea of absconding the world in a shroud of darkness.  Thankfully, due to the fact that she was constantly sleeping, the coughs did not rack her frail body throughout the month of changing.

               One day, while Mikiko and Quatre chatted in Quatre's room, the doorbell rang.  Mikiko got up and was going to go get the door when Quatre suddenly grabbed her wrist.

               'Don't get it,' she said softly, 'please.'

               'Don't worry.  It'll take just a minute,' the older woman replied soothingly.  Quatre let go of her wrist reluctantly and Mikiko bent down, kissing Quatre on her forehead.  She then stepped out towards the front door.

               "Nan desu ka," {Who is it?} she said.

               "Gomen nasai," {I'm sorry} a man's voice came from the other side.  She opened the door a little bit.  It was one of the Preventers who were friends of Quatre.  She recalled that his name was Trowa Barton.  "Tachibana-san uchi ni iru ka." {Is Miss Tachibana at home?}

               "Iie," {No} she lied.

               'When will she be back?' he asked.

               'She left for Tokyo already.'

               "Sou ka.  Arigato gozaimasu."  {I see.  Thank you} Then, he left.  Mikiko closed the door.  She sighed and went to Quatre's room.

               "Nan desu ka," {Who is it?} she asked.

               "Barton desu."  {It's Barton} Quatre blanched.  'It's okay.  He's gone.  I told him that you've already left to Tokyo.'

               "Arigato gozaimasu." {Thank you very much}

               Mikiko smiled kindly.  'Don't thank me.  It's my pleasure.'

~*~*~*~*~

Near the end of the month, Quatre felt much better and all the changes within her body were complete.  She was a lady throughout.  She was still weak the week before she had to leave for Tokyo, but she regained her strength quickly and started to train again.  She often went to the archery with Mikiko to train and every time she let an arrow fly, it landed right on the bull's eyes, always piercing through the previous arrow.  Mikiko applauded every time it happened and Quatre smiled embarrassingly.

               As the day of departure approached, Mikiko began to help Quatre pack up while Quatre chatted with her and looked over Omi, who seemed to have found his way.  However, the way back was a long way as with every moment passing, him being lost, the path back grew longer.  Nevertheless, Quatre was happy and excited to see Omi finding his way back to consciousness, even though Omi wouldn't know her. [8]

               On the day of her departure to Tokyo, Mikiko was there to say "sayonara."  Quatre took one last look around and visited Omi one last time before she left.  She held Omi's hand in affection and said a prayer for him.  Then she kissed the older boy on the forehead and went back to her apartment.

               Just as she headed for the door, a round of coughs started and she hurried and covered her mouth up, rushing to the bathroom in the meantime.  Mikiko ran after her and found the bathroom door to be closed.

               "Doushitano, Tachibana-chan," {What happened, Miss Tachibana?} she asked.

               'It's nothing,' Quatre lied.  Mikiko opened the door and saw blood running down the drain.  Quatre's lips were stained with blood.  Quatre smiled weakly.  'I bit myself, that's all.'  Mikiko looked at her worriedly.

               "Daijoubu desu," {I'm okay} Quatre said again and Mikiko didn't press the issue further.

               'Wash up then,' Mikiko told her and closed the door.  Quatre hurried and washed her face.  She quickly dried her face and hurried back into the living room.  Manx had arrived and Quatre smiled.  Manx hugged her affectionately and Quatre was speechless.

               "Chuui suru," {be careful} she whispered.

               "Hai," {Yes ma'am} Quatre replied softly.  Then, the two older women sent her on her way.  She started the engine of the car up and drove away, waving back at Manx and Mikiko with a fake smile on her face.

~*~*~*~*~

'So, do you know about this Tachibana Miyuki that we're going to house for the next week?' asked Ken.  The three 2nd generation Weiß members sat around the kitchen table each with a cup of coffee in front of them.  Their last teammate was, as usual, in front of the computer hacking into the Preventers' mainframe with a cup of black coffee next to his keyboard.  Even though it was in the afternoon, they decided to finish the coffee that Shinji had brewed that morning.  Everyone was on lunch break even though business had been rather slow that day.

               'I just hope that she's a cutie,' said Youji with a cigarette in his mouth.

               'Bakayarou.  That's all you think about isn't it?' Ken said.

               Youji grinned.

               'She's too young for you,' Aya said.

               Youji pouted.  'Thank you for ruining my fun.'  Aya smiled.

               'Aya's personality sure has changed,' said Ken.

               'What's that suppose to mean?' Aya said, glaring at Ken.

               'Nothing.'  Youji laughed.

               'Oy, Shinji, what are you doing?' asked Youji.

               Shinji said nothing.

               'It seems that our little friend has taken Aya's cold personality and Aya has taken his or something.'

               'He freaks me out.  Even though he's a replacement for Omi, he is nothing like our little Omittichi,' said Ken quietly.

               'I agree.'  The three fell silent.

               Suddenly, the bell rang outside, signifying a customer.

               'I'll get it,' said Ken.  "Irrashimashite!" {Welcome!}  He stepped out of the trailer and saw a black haired young lady looking at a freesia and beside her was a small suitcase while a cloth bag hung on her shoulder.  She wore a blue dress suit with a pair of black high heels.  Her appearance was breathtaking.  She held the freesia in her hand and turned to Ken, looking into his eyes.

               'May I help you?' he asked, gulping.  Her eyes were unnerving, as if she was dead inside.

               "Gomen nasai.  Watashi no nama wa Tachibana Miyuki.  Somali desu."  {I'm sorry.  My name is Miyuki Tachibana.  I'm Somali} She smiled brightly at him, closing her eyes.  Then, she held out her hand for a handshake.  Ken shook her hand dumbfounded.

               "Eh," Ken muttered stupidly and slapped himself mentally.  "Gomen ne.  Boku wa Hidaka Ken.  Manx wa anata okuru." {Sorry.  I'm Ken Hidaka.  Manx sent you?} [9]

               "Hai," she replied.  She looked around.  'May I come in?'

               Ken was amazed that this young lady was going to work with them.  'Uh, of course.  Silly me.  Please, come in.'  She nodded and went to get her suitcase, but Ken interjected, 'Here, let me get that for you.'

               "Arigatou gozaimasu."  Ken held the door open for her and called out to his teammates.

               'Oy, Aya, Youji, Shinji!  Our guest's here!'  One by one, the rest of Weiß appeared in the living room.

               "Konnichiwa," Quatre greeted, bowing at the same time.  "Watashi no nama wa Tachibana Miyuki.  Watashi wa Somali desu."

               Youji was the first to come up to her.  He shook her hand in a boyish way.  "Boku wa Kudou Youji.  Balinese desu." {I'm Youji Kudou.  I'm Balinese} He winked at her and Quatre had the decency to blush.

               "Boku wa Fujimiya Aya.  Abyssinian desu." {I'm Aya Fujimiya.  I'm Abyssinian} Quatre shook Aya's hand firmly and looked at him in the eyes, hoping that he wouldn't doubt her.

               "Siamese desu," {I'm Siamese} said Shinji simply.  He seemed to have taken on Aya's persona, Quatre noted.  She smiled weakly at him.

               'That's Ito Shinji,' said Youji.  'He's not what you call a social person.'

               'Like you?' she teased.  Youji looked at her in surprise while Ken burst out laughing.  Quatre smiled and sat down on the sofa.

               'You're not sleeping on the sofa,' said Aya.

               'No?' she repeated.  'It's okay.  I've got a sleeping bag.  Besides, I'm the guest.'

               'A lady shouldn't sleep on the couch.  You can use my room if you want,' said Youji.

               'I've got an extra mattress in my room,' Shinji spoke up.  Everyone looked at him in surprise and Shinji seemed to be embarrassed. [10]

               'Since when?' asked Ken.

               'Since I moved into Bombay's room?' he replied shyly.  He scratched his head in embarrassment.

               'What else have you been hiding, Shinji-kun?' asked Youji as the three older men cornered the younger teenager.  Shinji laughed nervously and Quatre smiled, coughing slightly.  The four Weiß members all turned to look at her.

               'I'm okay, just a little cold,' she said after the coughing subsided.  'I'll just take up on Shinji-kun's offer and use the extra mattress in his room.'

               'Actually, Shinji won't be sleeping in your room,' said Youji.

               'I'm not?' said Shinji.  'I thought it was my room?'

               'You'll be taking the extra mattress and be my roommate.'

               'Oh no… I'm not going to do that,' said Shinji.

               'Oh yes you are bishounen.  After that stunt you pulled, you are definitely sharing my room.'

               Quatre snickered.  'Are they always like this?' she asked Ken.

               'Nope.  I think your presence had brought out a side of Shinji that none of us has ever seen in this past month.'  Quatre blushed and Shinji looked at her, blushing as well.  Youji looked at the two teenagers and rolled his eyes.

               'Fine, you can keep your room,' said Youji, pouting.  Aya and Ken both laughed, making Quatre and Shinji blush even more.

               'Ken, I'll take her suitcase,' said Shinji.  Ken nodded and handed Shinji the suitcase.  'Tachibana-san, please follow me.'

               "Onegai, watashi ni Miyuki nazukeru,"{Please, call me Miyuki} she told Shinji.

               "Hai, Miyuki-chan."

~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure everything's been arranged?" asked one of Relena's advisers.

               Heero didn't bother to look at him and answered exasperatedly, "Yes.  We're the Preventers; you're all safe in our hands."

               "Let's just hope so," he said, leaving the cabin.  Heero sighed.  These bureaucrats were intolerable and had been pestering all of us since they entered the shuttle.  He stood up; stretching himself after working his butt off on the internet in hacking into the spaceport security in Tokyo to find whether there was any suspicious characters.  So far, he'd seen a few, but they all checked out after a background check in the Japanese database.

               "Tell me when the next bureaucrat steps in.  I'm going to put a bullet in his head," the boy next to him muttered. [11]

               "I thought you were asleep," said Heero.  Duo yawned and opened his eyes. [12]

               "Nah.  Couldn't sleep.  Something's bothering me."

               "What?"

               "It's just about this Tachibana girl.  Her ID photo scares me.  It's like she's taken up the 'perfect soldier' persona that you had three years ago, but she seems to have no emotions whatsoever."

               "Let me see the picture."  Duo took out the file folder that he placed in the chair pocket before the shuttle blasted off and rummaged through the file, searching for the photo.  Finally, he found it and handed it to Heero.  It was true.  The girl seemed to be very taciturn and insensitive to anything.

               "How are we supposed to work with her?" asked Duo, leaning back in his chair.

               "Hey, you worked with me before and I was no better than she is, so what are you complaining about," Heero teased the older teenager.  Duo grinned.

               "Yeah, I'm worrying too much."  As soon as that comment was finished, the pilot's voice came over the intercom.

               "Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to land.  It is 2:50 PM in Tokyo, Japan and the weather is gorgeous.  So just sit tight and fasten your seatbelts until the shuttle arrives and comes to a complete stop.  Thank you."

               "Ah, finally," said Duo.  "How long have we been on this shuttle?"

               "About 13 hours," answered Wufei, looking at his watch.

               "Damn.  That's way too long for me."

               "Duo, you just can't stay still can you?" said Trowa.

               "Nope.  And I'm proud of it too," he grinned widely.  The Preventers laughed.

~*~*~*~*~

Minutes later, the shuttle landed in the spaceport and the Preventers gathered their stuff.  Trowa and Wufei walked out of the shuttle first before the colonial officials and Heero and Duo walked off last.

               As they walked out of the catwalk leading to the shuttle, cameras flashed into their faces as reporters held out their microphones, wanting to speak to Relena.  The path between the railways that restrained the reporters from assaulting the officials with their microphones and cameras was covered with a red carpet and wounded to the left towards the baggage claim.

               A lady with short black hair, sunglasses, a black dress suit, and black high heels stood at the corner of the first turn.  As the procession approached, she took off her sunglasses and walked up to Relena.

               "Welcome, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian.  My name is Tachibana Miyuki.  I'm ordered to protect you during this week."  Her voice was light and mysterious and her smile seemed genuine for all those who weren't paying attention.  She held out her hand towards Relena and Relena gladly shook it.

               "Thank you, Miss Tachibana."

               "Please, call me Miyuki."

------

Yes, done with this chapter and as you can see, Relena's not gonna play a big role in this fic.  Dorothy'll show up in the next few chapters as a rep. for some political foundation (Not the Romafeller Foundation though… It's already gone bye-bye).  Anyways, review!  I'll got work on more of the fic and study and do homework.

Sayako

------

               "Throughout the week of Relena's visit in Tokyo, all of the police, military, along with the Preventers, and Kritiker were on the alert protecting the important figure of world politics.  Undercover agents searched for any suspicious persons or activities before, during, and after where Relena would appear while the Preventers staked out near Relena's room.  At times, the Preventers tried to convince Quatre, or Miyuki to them, to stay with Relena at all times, but Quatre always declined.  She'd prefer to stay with Weiß, who juggled two things at once: their own missions and body guarding Relena secretly."

------

Notes:

[1] Quatre's become the "perfect soldier" if they were still in wartime that is.

[2] Dorothy'll come back, don't worry.

[3] No, Quatre doesn't have tuberculosis.  The empathy was like medicine to her emotionless state.  Now without her empathy, Quatre's body is affected by the lack of emotions.  Just think of it in a magical sense where one's spiritual body is affected by the physical and vice versa.  As for her coughing up blood, it's just a outward sign that she's really sick.

[4] ESUN=Earth Sphere United Nations

[5] Prophetic isn't she?

[6] I'm mixing magic with the modern world.  Stupid me.  Me and my dumb ideas.  I think I'll just let you're imagination take over of how Quatre goes from being a boy to a girl.  ;^_^;; *sigh*  But having Quatre cross-dressing is a scary thought.  Besides… his Japanese seiyuu was a girl.  XP

[7] I'm debating whether to kill her or not.  Review to tell me if you want Quatre to die or not.  Please.  If you don't, I'll kill her at the end of the fic.  Or she might not be dead…

[8] If you're confused, let me explain "my theory" on coma.  When a person's in coma, the person's spiritual self—mind or soul—is lost with the person's subconscious.  As time passes, the person gets more lost as he or she tries to return but can't.  So, Omi's found the way to get back but it'll take a long time for him to return to consciousness without any outside help.

[9] Guess when the business is slow, the worker's slow too…  ^_^;

[10] Someone has a crush on girl!  *cough cough*  Oh yeah, Shinji's not an allusion to the Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion.  My sister just came up with that name at random.

[11] Duo moment!  Can't help myself.  ^_^  By the way, I dunno what to call those annoy politicians but bureaucrats.  If anyone has a better word, please tell me in the review!  Thank you!

[12] Heero's skills are getting worse…………  XP


	9. Truth

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kruez.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 8 – Truth

               Throughout the week of Relena's visit in Tokyo, all of the police, military, along with the Preventers, and Kritiker were on the alert protecting the important figure of world politics.  Undercover agents searched for any suspicious persons or activities before, during, and after where Relena would appear while the Preventers staked out near Relena's room.  At times, the Preventers tried to convince Quatre, or Miyuki to them, to stay with Relena at all times, but Quatre always declined.  She'd prefer to stay with Weiß, who juggled two things at once: their own missions and body guarding Relena secretly.

               The Preventers stayed in two rooms across from Relena's.  Though at first they hesitated to take the rooms, Quatre had insisted that they took the rooms on behalf of the Japanese people.  Once they had taken the rooms, Quatre bowed respectfully and left the Embassy building, leaving her past behind.

               As the week drew to a close, the former pilots' determination to be on alert diminished ever so slightly.  More Preventers were assigned to Tokyo as the week lagged on and the pilots were relieved to have these breaks.

               "I'm bored!" whined Duo one day in his room that he shared with Heero.  Though Relena has a dinner meeting that night, the pilots were off-duty as Preventers, Tokyo police, and undercover agents would be protecting the spokesperson for the ESUN at the meeting.  Duo stared at the walls blankly as he was bored.  Whoever designed their room had good artistic tastes.  Roman style pillars filled the corners of the room, each with intricately designed Corinthian columns and baroque style four-poster beds.  It was shocking to the Preventers how much the Japanese had absorbed the European artistic styles and used the techniques to create rooms of wonderment.

               "Read a book then," said Heero, while reading a book himself.  Though Duo didn't know it, Heero was actually reading a manga in Japanese underneath the cover.

               "I don't wanna," complained Duo.  He laid his head on the table and tapped the table with his fingertips.  "This is stupid.  No one's trying to assassinate Relena."  He looked at Heero lopsided and stared at the book cover, titled Ways to Socialize. [1] Duo looked at it with disbelief and reached out, grabbing the book.

               "Let me see that," he said.

               "Hey!" said Heero.  Duo looked at the book, it was in Japanese, but from the drawings he could tell that it was a manga and the characters looked familiar. [2] "Heero?  Isn't this us?" he asked, looking up at Heero.

               "Uh, yeah," Heero replied sheepishly.  Duo gawked at him, Heero blushing?  That was something you don't see everyday.  Duo flipped through the manga, knowing to hold Heero's place for him and found his section in the book.

               "Heero, what's this manga called?"

               "It's 'Gundam Wing: Episode Zero'."

               "What's the plot?"

               "It just talks about our lives before becoming Gundam pilots."

               "Damn, this guy's good."

               "I thought my picture was screwed up."  Duo stared at Heero.

               "I think Relena's been rubbing off of yah," he told Heero, going back to the manga, reading his section. [3]

               "You can't say much since I've met her once before I became a Gundam pilot and with her stalking me," he shuddered, "that just about did it." [4]

               "Who'd you get this from?"

               "Shinji lent it to me.  He has a stash of Japanese mangas in Weiß's trailer."  Duo looked at Heero with sparkling eyes.

               "Like what?"

               "Like Rurouni Kenshin, some of CLAMP's works, Meitantai Conan, Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi-"

               "Yuck, I hate Fushigi Yuugi."

               Heero snickered.

               "This guy's pretty accurate about our pasts," Duo muttered.

               "Yeah, I wonder how he did it."

               "Care to hack?"

               "Nah, who cares?  I just want it back, thank you," Heero said, reaching out to grab the manga out of Duo's hands.  Duo took it away. [5]

               "I wanna flip through yours."  Then he flipped to Heero's section and looked at the pictures.  He snickered. [6]

               "Yeah, yeah," said Heero exasperatedly.  "I know that my picture's screwed up."  He rolled his eyes. [7]

               "But not as screwed up as Miss Queen-of-the-World," Duo remarked, making sure that it carried out to the hallway.

               "Duo!" hissed Heero, grabbing the manga back and stuffing it into the backpack underneath the table.

               "Did I hear someone talking about me?" Relena's head popped out from the hallway.

               "Nope, you need to get your hearing checked," said Duo.

               "No thanks, after this, I'm going on a vacation," she said, entering the room.  Heero went back to the "perfect soldier" mode and became "unresponsive."

               "Heero," said Relena.  "What are you doing?"

               "Hn," he said.  Duo smirked.

               "By the way, Duo, you were wrong about Miyuki Tachibana.  She's really not that cold, you know," said Heero.

               "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.  She just looks freaky in that picture.  She ought to retake her picture."

               "So you can have one?" teased Relena.

               "Don't you start, Miss Foreign Minister," Duo said, glaring at Relena, who was not perturbed at all by the glare.  Duo's glaring was as harmful as a pacifist, not as scary as Heero's or Aya's.

               "Have you seen Aya, Ken, or any of those guys today yet?" asked Relena.

               "Why?" Duo asked suspiciously, obviously curious.  Relena blushed slightly in embarrassment.

               "N-nothing," she stuttered.  Duo grinned.  "Mind your own business," she flustered.  Duo grinned more.  Relena glared at Duo and Duo glared back.  Heero rolled his eyes at this pointless staring contest between the two.  Both were too stubborn to give up, so he just sighed resignedly and took out the manga again. [8]

               Suddenly, as if to relieve the tension in the room, Quatre entered the room.  Duo whistled when he saw the Japanese girl.  She was dressed in a black dress with spaghetti straps over her shoulder.  Her skirt had two slits up to her knee and she wore a pair of high-heels.  Her hair was tied up into a ponytail and the dress made her very appealing and in Duo's words, sexy.  Quatre blushed and shuffled around a bit before snapping out of her self-conscious reverie.

               "Gomen nasai, am I intruding?" she apologized, bowing at the same time.

               "Oh no, Miyuki-san.  I was just ready to leave," said Relena.

               "I see.  I'm here to escort you to the conference at the Senate building.  And also, Miss Dorothy Catalonia of the Europe Unified Federation has arrived and is waiting in the limo outside." [9]

               "Thank you."

               "This way, Miss Foreign Minister," she bowed and guided Relena out.  In the hallway, guards came to escort Relena and Quatre stopped as Trowa came out of his room.  He looked at her and frowned.

               "Miss Foreign Minister, I'll leave you with these guards and I'll see you at the meeting."

               "Alright," Relena said, "I'll see you then.  Good night, Preventer Barton."

               "Good night," he replied.  Then, Relena and the guards left the hallway.

               "Is something wrong?" she asked concernedly.

               "Oh no.  Nothing's wrong."

               "Then why do you look like you disapprove of something I'm doing?"

               "Nothing, you look very beautiful in that dress and I assure you, Miyuki-san, that you aren't doing anything wrong."

               "Oh."

               "What are you dressed up for?"

               "Oh, well, Miss Relena has a dinner party tonight after the conference and I, well, I'm supposed to perform because the musicians that were supposed to be there had to cancel at the last minute.  I had to step in with my violin to help out."

               "May I come and listen to you?"

               "Nani?" she looked at him in surprised.  Their eyes met and she saw kindness and passion deep within the eye that wasn't hidden beneath the taller boy's bangs.  After a while, she suddenly said, "Gomen ne."  She broke the eye contact.

               "May I come?"

               "Of course.  The party's at seven."  Then Quatre walked away, leaving Trowa to his thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~

The dinner party was loud with excitement as peace delegates of every nation and organization had met up in Tokyo for this commemorative event.  Strains of classical music could be heard over the conversations of the delegates.  Trowa sat in a chair at one side of the room, away from the bustling crowd of people, next to the buffet table.  As he stood there staring at the delegates, he couldn't help but snicker at the way that the delegates were acting over the food.  They looked famished and their actions amused him, as he couldn't find the girl who had drawn him to herself.  He ate another piece of hoer d'oeuvres what seemed like to be his tenth piece of the same kind of appetizer and as he ate, crumbs fell onto his plate.  He looked downcast.

               "How many of those have you ate?" a voice came.  Trowa's head snapped up and came face to face with the Japanese girl, who was bending over to look at him.  Trowa gulped at the closeness of their faces and she blushed.  Then, she straightened up and coughed slightly, the blush still on her cheeks.  He stood up and put the plate on the chair and dusted himself off. [10]

               "Well, I was looking for you.  And since I couldn't find you, I decided to eat; though I must admit, the food is way too bland for my taste."

               "What do you like to eat?"

               "Well, anything other than sashimi or French food.  Even though I'm of European descent, I can't stand French food."

               "Really?  Well, although I'm Japanese, I hate sashimi," she grimaced and made a face.  Trowa laughed.  She smiled.  "I prefer anything that's not bland and maybe something that's spicy.  Even though we have the wasabi, it doesn't suit me since we use it mainly for sashimi." [11]

               "You like spicy food?"

               "Yeah, I rarely get a chance to eat the western spicy food, so I like it."

               "You are very strange to be Japanese."

               "I know.  Well, I'd better go prepare, I'm up in ten minutes."  She started to leave.

               "Wait."

               "Nani?"

               "Can I play with you?  I mean, I do have my flute with me."

               She looked at him with kind eyes and with a hint of sadness in them.

               'Sorry.  I doubt we can pull it off.'

               "I can try!"

               "Gomen."  Then she was swallowed up by the crowd.  Trowa looked left and right but could find her.  He walked straight into the crowd and bumped into another girl.

               "Sorry," he said, helping her up.  "Dorothy?"  Indeed, it was the blond girl with grey eyes.  She seemed much more amicable than two or three years ago and she was no longer the vindictive girl that he knew before.  He'd never taken the time to notice the changes in her the last time he saw her at the hospital before Quatre was taken by Schwartz and was presumably dead afterwards.

               "It's alright, Trowa."

               "What are you doing here?"

               "I thought you knew.  I'm a representative from newly found EUF." [12]

               "So that's what you've been doing all this time?"

               "Yeah.  I got a letter from the EUF asking me to be an ambassador for them to Japan and I agreed, having this need to return to the political arena.  That doesn't mean that I'm giving up on him though."

               Trowa looked at her with kind eyes and smiled.  "I'm sure you aren't.  I would ruffle your hair, but I wouldn't want to mess it up," he teased.  Dorothy glared at him playfully.  Suddenly, the lights dimmed and a spotlight shown through the room towards the stage.  On the stage was an announcer. [13]

               "Welcome, honorable delegates from the ESUN and various organizations around the world and space.  We are honored to have you here in Tokyo," the announcer said in his distinct Japanese accent.  Trowa was surprised that Miyuki had no Japanese accent whatsoever and made him more curious about the black-haired lady.  "We are sorry to say that the Japan National Chamber Orchestra could not come tonight due to an emergency in Kyoto.  However, we have a talented young violinist by the name of Miyuki Tachibana, who will perform two pieces for you.  Let's give a round of applause for her!"  The announcer waved his hand towards the left of the stage where the violinist stepped up the stage and walked towards the center of the room.  She curtsied and set her violin between her chin and her left shoulder, closing her eyes before placing the bow on the strings and playing the first note.

               The first piece that she played was familiar to Trowa.  It was one of Quatre's favorites.  He couldn't recall the title of the composition though.  Quatre had arranged it such that only one of each instrument could join in without requiring any rehearsals, just as long as the musicians were in tempo.  He closed his eyes and let the music swept through him.  The serene notes suggested a green meadow under a clear blue sky.  Calm breezes swept across the meadow, bending the green grass to its will.

               Suddenly, another instrument joined the violinist in painting this tranquil scene.  Trowa opened his eyes and the red curtains behind opened to reveal another musician.  Surprisingly, it was Aya.  The stoic man was playing the double bass, resonating from the high pitch of the violin.  The spotlight divided to highlight both the red-haired man and the black-haired doll.  He moved towards the front of the stage, excusing himself as he pushed through the crowd of delegates.

               As he approached the stages, two more instruments joined into the music: Ken on the viola and Youji on the cello.  It surprised Trowa that Weiß could play instruments and could accompany Miyuki so well.  When he reached the front of the stage, he gripped his flute case hard, wishing that he could play along as well.  As Miyuki reached the end of the section before the key change, she opened her eyes and looked into Trowa's own eyes.  Trowa understood her meaning.  He went around the stage to the back and placed his flute case on the floor, preparing to take it out.

               As he assembled the flute, an open-hole gold Powell with the split-E mechanism, the distinct notes of a clarinet entered the music. [14] He looked out from when he stood and a stranger who seemed to be the same age as Omi was playing the clarinet, standing alongside Miyuki.  The flute entrance was still far and so he warmed up quietly, adjusting his mouthpiece and soon, the entrance came.  He quickly stepped out from behind the curtain and played the start of his solo.  He closed his eyes as the duet progressed.  The clarinet complimented the notes of both the flute and the violin with its harmonics and scales.

               By the next key change, another instrument had joined.  It was timpani, as Trowa listens carefully to the low beating of the kettle drum.  He didn't dare to look back as he was performing and continued to play, stopping whenever his instinct told him to do.  Soon, the sharp notes of a trumpet could be heard as the strings set up the entrance of the brass instrument.  The audience clapped with enthusiasm as the solo came to an end and the entrance of another instrument.  From what Trowa could hear, it was a trombone.  The piece came to the climatic point and then slowly came to an end.  By the time it ended, Trowa was flushed with excitement and bowed with happiness.  He then looked around to see the other musicians.  Duo was grinning mischievously to the audience, in his hands a trumpet.  Heero stood next to him with a trombone in his hands, smiling ever so slightly.  Wufei was in the back, holding two timpani sticks and in front of him was a set of four timpani drums.  To his surprise, the Chinese teenage was smiling too, a smiling face in place of his usual scowling countenance.

               As the applause came to a stop, the spotlight shifted to the announcer.

               "What a group!  We have Miyuki Tachibana on the violin, Ken Hidaka on the viola, Youji Kudou on the cello, Aya Fujimiya on the double bass, Trowa Barton on the flute, Shinji Ito on the clarinet, Duo Maxwell on the trumpet, Heero Yuy on the trombone, and Wufei Chang on the timpani.  You'd think that this is the National chamber orchestra!"  The delegates laughed at that comment.  The musicians could only shook their head and roll their eyes.  "Big thanks to the Tokyo Police and the Preventers for providing us with these wonderful musicians.  Now this next piece is more upbeat than the next one.  Thus, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, it's your stage!" [15]

               The spotlight fell upon the group again and the concertmistress turned to her fellow performers.  Trowa didn't know what piece they were playing but apparently that didn't matter, because she was going to start the piece first, just like the last time.  She tapped her foot to give them the tempo and tapped four times.

               The piece was another piece that Quatre had arranged.  The violin notes were upbeat and dance-like, with bounces within the notes themselves.  Miyuki played the violin like a fiddle and soon, the other instruments joined into this folk dance.  The audience began to clap with the music and some of the delegates were bold enough to start dancing to the music.

               The song was very motivating and very joyful.  It made Trowa want to dance to it while he was playing as well.  Each instrument had their own cadenzas, doing whatever the musician wanted to, just as long it was in that tempo and it was surprising how all of them were able to compliment each other so well and play their own creative sections without messing the other musicians up.

               Yet, the song could not last forever.  After the song ended, Trowa wished that he could just keep on play the song.  The applause deafened his ears as the delegates clapped with vigor.  All of the musicians stood up and bowed: once, twice, and thrice.  They looked at each other with gayety and smiled.  Trowa and Shinji both approached Miyuki at the same time and they both pecked on her cheeks.  She went bright red and looked down shyly.  The two boys then looked at each other and laughed. [16]

               However, the festivity was cut short with a gunshot near the back of the room.  The delegates all ran to the side as a group of men dressed in black wearing shades stormed into the party.  The musicians narrowed their eyes at the group of terrorists, who made their way towards the stage.

               'Off the stage!' the leader yelled.  Neither one of them made a move.  'Now!'

               'You're not welcomed here,' said Trowa calmly.  One of the terrorists shot several rounds of ammo towards the ceiling above and the delegates all dropped to the floor.  While the terrorists busied themselves with securing the perimeters, the Preventers all took out their guns and Weiß their respective weapons: Aya, katana; Ken, bugnuk; Youji, wire; and Shinji, throwing knives.  Quatre didn't move at all.  All of the men trained their weapons onto the terrorists but didn't attack.  The leader trained his gun onto the violinist.

               'Put down your weapons, or she dies,' he threatens.  Quatre took a step forward.  'Stay where you are!'  She disregarded him and put her violin down.  As she put the violin down, she grabbed the darts that were hidden in her socks.  She slowly stood up, hiding her hands behind her back.  The leader looked her from top to bottom and grinned lecherously.

               'Come here,' he commanded her.  Quatre slowly took a step forward and then another.  As she stepped off of the stage, she brought her hands to the front and let the darts fly.  The darts hit the terrorists; three darts, three terrorists.  The attack signaled to the men to fire and a shootout erupted.  Quatre quickly rolled onto the ground but was hit but a stray bullet from the leader as he aimed for her heart.  However, before he could shoot her, he was shot by one of Shinji's knives and by Trowa as well.  Quatre sustained minor injuries as the bullet only grazed her upper arm.  The leader was immediately dead and soon, more Preventers stormed into the room, arresting whoever was left.

               As the police took over, Shinji hurried to the wounded lady, helping her to a sitting position.  She winced as she moved.

               "Daijoubu," she said to him.  'It's just a scratch.'

               "Anata wa tashikana desu ka." {Are you sure?}

               "Hai, hai."  She hissed as she moved her injured arm.  A paramedic entered the room and looked around.  Upon seeing the injured violinist, he quickly paced towards the group.

               'Come on, come on.  Let her have some air.  I'll need to take care of that wound,' he said to the men surrounding her seriously.  The men quickly obeyed and stepped away, giving them some room.

               Quatre looked at the paramedic and couldn't concentrate.

               'Konbanwa, Bombay.  Schwartz-sama wants to talk to you again,' he whispered as he pulled out a needle from the first aid kit.

               "IIE!" she shouted, pushing the enemy away from her.  The paramedic, unexpected of this action, dropped the needle and the glass shattered, spilling its contents onto the carpet beneath.

               "Miyuki?" said Trowa.  Before he had a chance to act though, the fake paramedic succeeded in pulling the girl to him and held a gun to her forehead.

               'Don't move or she gets it,' he threatens.  Quatre scowls and closed her eyes.  She stepped on one of her captor's foot and ground her heel into his foot.  He yelled painfully and let go of the girl.

               "Shimatta," he cursed at her.  Quatre fell into the waiting arms of Trowa and leaned on the taller boy for support.  She blinked warily and looked at the assassin, who was apprehended by Heero and Wufei.

               "Arigato," she said to no one in particular.

               'Let's go,' Heero said gruffly.  However, before they made another step, Quatre started coughing.

               The room became eerily silent as the cough racked her small frame.  She covered her mouth and knelt on the floor.  Trowa and Shinji both knelt by her side, supporting the violinist.  The bitter coppery taste filled her mouth and finally, she stopped the coughing.  She brought her hands away from her mouth and looked tearfully at Trowa then at Shinji, who both looked wide-eyed at the blood in her hands.  Then, she gasped, a faint spell came over her, and she fell back, her breathing shallow. [17]

               "Miyuki!  Miyuki!" both Trowa and Shinji shouted simultaneously.  They shook her, trying to wake her up but she didn't.

               'Call the paramedics!' shouted Youji.

~*~*~*~*~

Two hours passed in the Tokyo Police hospital since Quatre's faint spell at the dinner party.  The Preventers and Weiß all waited in the waiting room with Relena, Dorothy, Lady Une, Sally, and Hilde, who were all in Tokyo, taking shifts to protect Relena during her stay.  Duo and Hilde were pacing back and forth, wearing the floor out.  One would've thought that Duo and Hilde were the ones most worried about their sick friend.  However, the ones who were most worried were standing in front of the Operating Room door, waiting for the light above to dim, to signal to them that the operation was over.

               Rapid footsteps echoed down the hall as Manx ran towards them in her high heels.  She huffed and puffed as she approached them.

               'Gomen nasai.  I rushed here as soon as I could,' she said, taking in deep breaths as she spoke.

               'Where were you?' asked Ken.  Everyone within the waiting room had come out into the hallway.

               'I was in Kyoto.'

               'What were you doing there?' Aya asked suspiciously.

               'We should talk inside,' she said forlornly.  After all of them entered into the waiting room, a woman entered the room with a hooded person in a wheelchair.  The person was clearly sleeping and an IV was hooked up to him or her.  No one seemed to recognize the stranger pushing the wheelchair or the unknown patient of the hospital.

               "So?" asked Duo, getting the hint from the others.

               'I'm going to say this in English,' she said to Weiß, who nodded in approval.

               "What I'm going to say is important to all you and I normally wouldn't reveal on Kritiker's own terms.  However-"

               "Does this have something to do with Quatre?" Dorothy interrupted.  Her grey eyes looked troubled and worried as she listened to Manx.

               "Yes," she said.

               "Who are you anyways?" asked Sally, not trusting anyone after the alert of a clear and present danger against Relena.

               "I'm Hanae Kitada.  I work with Kyoto Takaoka, Aya, Ken, Youji, and Shinji, as well as Miyuki, in a behind-the-scene organization.  This organization, known in the underworld as Kritiker, seeks out corrupt businessmen and sends out assassins to kill them."

               "Why are you telling us this?" asked Lady Une.

               "I'm telling you this because Quatre left me a note specifically to tell you about why he is in this organization."

               "Why does he want you to tell us about this?" asked Relena.

               "Because, Miss Relena.  He's dying."  Silent fell upon the occupants.

               "What do you mean he's dying?" said Wufei, trembling.  "He's dead."

               "No," the stranger said forlornly.  "I assure you, he's not."

               "Who are you?"

               "I am Mikiko Kataoka.  I was a Kritiker operative.  I took care of Bombay-chan in this past month, before he, or I should say, she came to Tokyo."

               "Miyuki is Quatre?" exclaimed Hilde incredulously.  "That's impossible!"

               "What science now can do to your body," remarked Youji mockingly.

               "As I've said before, Quatre wants you to know before he would pass away."

               "He won't die," Trowa said.  "He's too strong to give up."

               Manx looked at him forlornly.  "I wish that were so.  The truth is, she hadn't told us about her condition.  It was until I found the letter that she had mailed to her address that I found this out.  And it didn't come until today."

               "What's wrong with her?" asked Shinji in his strongly accented English.

               "It's a problem that a doctor is unable to diagnose.  She said in her note that it has something to do with the fact that Schwartz had given her a drug that had blocked her empathy powers."

               "That's why it seemed that Quatre was truly dead," muttered Trowa.

               "What do you mean?" asked Duo.

               "Quatre and I are connected, ever since the first time we've met.  I noticed his empathy and he knew that I knew about his powers.  That's why I never gave up on him when he supposedly died in that car crash a year ago.  Then, when Quatre was kidnapped and you came to tell us that Quatre was dead.  I couldn't believe it at first, but I felt the bond between him and I severed as I tried to search for any evidence that what you said was false.  From then, I knew that something had happened to Quatre, and it was bad.  I wanted so bad to believe that Quatre wasn't dead, but he managed to slip away before I could find him again."

               "That seemed to be a decision that I had regretted making.  She's way too ignorant ever since she came here.  Sure she seemed happy, but she wasn't truly happy.  She missed her old life, even when she was controlled by the business.

               "A year ago, every time I see Quatre on TV, I saw the potential of a Kritiker agent.  I had Omi download files about Quatre from the WEI database, from the public records, from every single database you could find, down to his records at OZ.  I even had Omi print out every single phone bill that Quatre had.  It was all thought out.  When we lost Omi, I was determined to find Quatre.  I knew that he was working beyond any human capacity.  I offered him a choice, to stay and have a life out of your control or to leave and be free.  He knew the terms and chose to leave.

               "Now, he wasn't truly free because he was not living as himself.  He was living in disguise as Omi.  We all helped to building Omi's persona within Quatre during the month that he lived in my house.  He went to the hospital every single day, visiting Omi.  It was like seeing the twin that Omi never had.  Every action and every thought was so similar to Omi's that it was hard to distinguish the Omi that we knew before and the Omi that we knew now.

               "When you appeared in Tokyo, Quatre panicked within.  He didn't want to go back to having no control of his life, but at the same time, he wanted to be with his old friends again.  He told me that he was sick of not being able to talk to his friends.  However, the inability to control his own life and not talking to you guys for more than two months was more than he could take.  He needs to have friends of his own, not business associates.  Even though his empathy allowed him to get emotions from people around him, he didn't want to take it from strangers that he'd only know from a business connection.  That's why he left.

               "What do you mean that he takes emotions from other people?" asked Heero.

               "Quatre, Miyuki, whoever you'd like to call her, explained in the letter that her empathy allowed her to be normal, all emotional.  She is unable to generate emotions by herself.  With empathy, she can receive emotions from people around her, manipulating into emotions of her own and storing them for later use.  When her empathy was taken away from her, she returns to the emotionless persona.  Even when she tries to smile or laugh, that takes a lot out of her and aggravates her condition.  That's the reason that she is even in this hospital now."

               'I'm guessing the figure in the wheelchair is Omi,' said Ken solemnly.

               'Hai,' answered Manx.  Ken approached the wheelchair and pulled the hood back to reveal the comatose boy.  Omi's head fell back and his eyes twitched.

               'He's making progress,' remarked Youji.  Manx's eyes twinkled at that remark.  She smiled at Omi, who Ken was helping to shift his position in the wheelchair.

               A ding out in the hallway signaled to them that the operation was complete.  The occupants of the waiting room hurried out to the hallway and waited for the doctor to come out.  After a few minutes, the doctor came out and pulled off his operating mask.  He looked at the group in front of him.

               "Manx," he acknowledged the red haired woman.

               "Hai," answered Manx.  'How's Bombay?'

               'She's doing fine.  I have some good news and bad news.'

               'What's the good news?' asked Shinji.

               'The good news is that the operation was a success and Miyuki will be fine.'  A small sigh of relief came from Youji.  'However, Miyuki is in a comatose as a result of whatever disorder she has.  We don't know when she would regain consciousness.  It could be years before she woke up due to the fact that her body had suffered intense internal bleeding in this last two months.'

               'How?' asked Aya.

               'We don't know.  We have to take more tests in order to diagnose her.'

               'Will she stay in the hospital?' asked Trowa.

               'Yes, she will.  We'll be monitoring her.'  Then, two nurses came out, pushing the gurney with Miyuki on top towards the elevators.  'She'll stay in room 1131.'

               'Can you set up another bed in there?' asked Shinji.  The doctor looked at him and smiled.

               'Yes we can.'

               "Arigatou."  Then, the doctor left.

               "Quatre's in a coma isn't he?" asked Dorothy solemnly.

               "Yes, he is," answered Trowa forlornly.

               "And it's all because of me."

               "No, we all have faults, even I do," answered Manx.

               "Miss Relena, you better return to the embassy.  You're leaving tomorrow," said Lady Une affectionately and softly.

               "Preventer Une, I need a vacation.  Please call Chris at the embassy and tell her to cancel all of my meetings and appointments for the next week.  Also, the pilots are to take a leave of office until further notice."

               Lady Une felt she should protest, but she knew that the pilots only worked best in a team.  This past year has taught her that.  "Yes, ma'am."  Then, she left.  Her footsteps echoed down the silent hallway.

               "I'm going to go see Quatre," said Shinji quietly.

               "I'll come with you," said Trowa.

               "Take Omi up with you," said Manx.  "He needs to be near her for her to recover."

               "How would you know that?" asked Duo.

               "I have maternal instincts, especially for these two.  Trust me, Quatre has grown attached to Omi for a long time and they are bonded like siblings, even if Omi doesn't know it."

               "Hai," replied Shinji.  He took command of the wheelchair and the two boys headed up to the 11th floor.

------

Yah!  Finally finished!  ^_^;  It's so long!!!!!!!!!!!  XP Oh well.  I probably won't post the next chapter up until after the AP test, which is on May 10th.  Gotta study!  Need to leave now.  Have tons to do.  Ja ne!

Sayako

Note: Quatre's not going to die!  Someone special will show up in the next chapter and there will be hope for her!

------

Preview Key Points for next chapter:

1. Schwartz shows up for Quatre.

2. Battle between Weiß, allied with the Preventers, and Schwartz for Quatre.

3. Weiß is recruited as an alliance between Japan Preventers and Kritiker.

------

Notes:

[1] Nice book for Heero, ne?  *lol*

[2] Heero's reading manga?  O.O

[3] Duo moment!  Heero's really OOC in here.  But then again, it's a year after Endless Waltz, and by hanging out with Duo, Duo's bound to rub off on Heero.

[4] Yes, the two met again when Heero was about 7 in Episode Zero.

[5] Heero's very into manga isn't he?  ^_____________^

[6] You gotta hand it to Duo.  He's very outgoing isn't it?  (Duh!)

[7] Well, it does!  Have you seen the picture?  He looked horrible as a child.  But Relena looks even worse!

[8] Again, Heero's way too OOC.  And I'm a manga-anime freak, and proud of it too.  ^^;

[9] I just made the EUF up.  It's not really, so I'm the president!  ^_^;  And as I promised, Dorothy's back.

[10] Trowa acts like a reject at this party.  He's very anti-social.  But then again, you could be anti-social at a party full of arrogant politicians.

[11] What can I say?  Quatre's Arabic.  If you're not from Japan and is forced to stay in Japan for a whole year, having to eat sushi every single day, wouldn't you get tired of it?

[12] That so does not sound right…

[13] Dorothy's changed a lot…  Or maybe she's just very OOC.

[14] BTW, I'm a flutist, and Powell's really popular nowadays as well as the split-E, cuz then ur in tune and u can't crack the stupid high E, which cracks very easily…  I want a Powell!  _

[15] Yeah, I know, they don't play instruments.  But I like having them play instruments.  They are so talented!  ^____________^  And I don't know what the hell they are playing.  I didn't feel like finding music compositions.

[16] Are you sure you aren't drunk?  ßTo Shinji and Trowa.  XP Hehe!

[17] Reminds me of the ending scene of Christian's flashback in _Moulin Rouge.  ^_^; But then again, her symptoms does seem like she has consumption.  XP_


	10. Despair

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kreuz.  Therefore: no suing.**

**Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.  The rating has gone up to R in this chapter.  See warnings for more details.**

**Warnings: Implied rape-Crawford x Quatre… Rating R in this chapter… Otherwise… PG-13**

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

`blah`-telepathic dialogue

Chapter 9 – Despair

               Shinji stared at the pale girl hidden underneath the folds of the hospital blank, her chest rising and falling slowly.  It seemed that she was fine, but she wasn't, she was not fine at all.  At times, he wished that she could just wake up and that all this was a nightmare, that this wasn't real.  He wished that he could just wake up.  However, he knew that _this was not a dream, that __this was real, and that __this girl sleeping in front of him had been lying to them all this time._

               He shifted in the hospital chair and leaned forward towards the bed.  Trowa had left, dragged back to the trailer by his worrying friends.  He had stayed on accounts that he had rested and kept a normal "life," or what was left of his life after Quatre was in the hospital.  Now it was only the two of them, other than the fact that Omi was lying on the cot that the nurses had set up in here.

               'Miyuki, no, Quatre, I know that you can't hear me,' Shinji started, speaking to the pale girl in front of him, 'but I feel compelled to confess to you.'  He stood up and leaned on her bed.  'Although we haven't known each other in a long time, I feel attracted to you.  I can't stop thinking about you ever since I saw you.  I know that I'm probably obsessive, but something inside of you just draws me to you.  I guess that's why I can't seem to stop thinking about you.'  The older boy slowly leaned toward the girl's face and closed his eyes, allowing their lips to touch.  Shinji kissed the girl tenderly, wetting her dry lips.  She tasted like cinnamon and honey.  Soon, he broke the kiss and looked at the sleeping girl's face.  Her slightly swollen lips were red, distinct from her pale face. [1]

               Shinji smiled benignly at the comatose girl, hope flashing into his brown eyes for a brief moment.  Nevertheless, even that brief moment gave the girl some strength to return to the world.  Her right index finger moved ever so slightly; but Shinji, hopelessness returning to his eyes, never noticed the movement. [2]

~*~*~*~*~

Nagi was utterly worried about the boy that was supposedly his enemy.  Immersing himself on the internet, he was able to keep the red-headed telepath from probing his mind.  Nevertheless, he didn't really have to worry about that.  Moaning and groaning came from the room next to his told him that Schuldich had found something better to do with Crawford than to pester the young telekinetic.

               Even though he knew that the Omi he knew was actually the famous Gundam pilot who supposedly died a year ago, he was still worried about the pilot.  As much as he'd deny it, he had bonded to the kind hearted boy who everyone knew as Quatre.  His search for the boy was unfruitful.  All of the hospital databases and the Kritiker database were useless to him.  He sighed and tapped on his keyboard.

               Leaving his search for the Weiß hacker, Nagi went to Fanfiction.net, where he had posted a few of his poetry and original stories under the pen name "Mayfly."  He clicked on "Anime" and clicked on "Weiß Kreuz."  He scrolled down, yawning as there were nothing interesting to read except for perhaps humorous stories about himself, Omi, and even Schuldich and Farfello. [3]

               His eyes fell upon the story titled "Temptations" and read the summary.  He shuddered at the two names in the summary: Schuldich and Farfello.  He made a face and shook his head, knowing that if Schuldich found out, the author would seriously have trouble with the angry telepath. [4]

               `What are you thinking, chibi?` Schuldich's nasal voice intruded into the young Japanese's mind.

               `Don't you have to entertain Crawford?` he asked quietly telepathically.

               `Heh, wouldn't you like to know that Crawford's having a vision.`

               `Tell me what he saw after he comes back.`

               `He already did.  Oh, meeting in ten minutes.  I suggest you get offline and get Farfello.`

               `Fine, fine,` Nagi pouted telepathically.  Schuldich's laugh echoed in his mind as he closed the internet program.  He stood up and rolled his eyes at Schuldich.  Even though he had gotten cable for his internet connection, the telepath continually speaks as though he has a dial-up connection.

               The young telekinetic moved quickly down the corridor past Crawford's room to Farfello's room.  He opened the scarred door and peeked in.  Farfello was in his usual straitjacket and Nagi was thankful for that.  The albino could be quite insane at times if he was ever out of the straitjacket by himself.  Only when one other Schwartz member was present was the Irish able to keep his insanity in check.

               Nagi used his powers to unbuckle all of the restraints and Farfello looked at Nagi gratefully.

               "Thanks a lot," he said sanely.

               "You're welcome."  Even though they were assassins, they were polite to each other and were civilized friend, despite what their so-called opponents fighting for the good side might think.  The two then walked side by side, silently towards the living room, otherwise known as the makeshift "conference" room.  By the time they got there, Crawford and Schuldich were already there.

               "I had a vision," stated Crawford.

               "Tell us something we don't know," Schuldich said lightly.  Crawford glared coldly at his lover.

               "The vision was more or less something that had already occurred," he said.

               "How would you know?" asked Nagi.

               "It pertains to Weiß," Crawford said, ignoring Nagi's question.

               "True, so?" asked the red-haired assassin.

               "We know that a new recruit was brought in after Quatre's supposed death."  He paused.  "And we know for certain that in this past week, they were to assist a Kritiker operative named Tachibana Miyuki in protecting the foreign visitor from ESUN."

               "What's your point?" Schuldich asked irritated.

               "Nagi, when you were hacking into the databases, did you happen to come across Miyuki's name?" Crawford asked, ignoring Schuldich.

               Nagi was taken aback by that question.  "I think so.  I have the databases on my laptop.  I can check it in an instant if you want to."

               "Even if you think so is good enough.  Tachibana Miyuki has been showing signs of internal bleeding and is now in a coma."

               "What does that have to do with Weiß other than the fact that she has been working with them?"

               "Miyuki has no past."

               "What?" asked Nagi.

               "My vision showed me her past.  The persona of Tachibana Miyuki is made up, just as Tsukiyono Omi was.  The person who is pretending to be Miyuki is none other than-"

               "The empath," said Farfello intuitively.

~*~*~*~*~

The eight boys, two girls, and two comatose patients occupied the large room of 1131.  For a room designed for comatose patients, the room was quite, well, roomy.  Makeshift chairs surrounded the two beds and the healthy teens slept, looking over their comatose friends at the same time.  Shinji and Trowa were still up.

               12:31 AM.  The others had long since gone to sleep, or so the inattentive passerby would think. In truth, Aya, Heero, and Wufei were all very much awake.  They had closed their eyes in a pensive mood and meditated, saving their strength without sleeping.  Both Trowa and Shinji had been pushing themselves to the brink of exhaustion waiting for a sign of recognition from the sleeping girl.  Omi was making great progress as he seemed to become aware of his surroundings, but he would always relapse back into the coma.  It would be yet another week or so before the hacker regain his consciousness and awareness of the world.

               As hard as they might try, both Trowa and Shinji weren't able to keep up with their silent vigil.  Both of them started dozing off and finally, with some coaxing from the coldness within the room, they both fell into a deep sleep.  Meanwhile, Aya, Heero, and Wufei all kept an ear out for any surprises.

               Around one, footfalls could be heard echoing down the corridor.  Aya cracked open one eye and looked at the doorway.  The footfalls grew louder and louder despite the effort of the assailants to try to muffle it.  When the people came into view, the red-headed assassin quickly closed his eye after recognizing the first person.  Schwartz had come to the hospital, no doubt for the empath again.  The three boys calmed themselves down and listened carefully to every single movement of their opponent.

               It occurred to them that Schwartz didn't bother to communicate through Schuldich's telepathic abilities since Crawford was whispering orders to the others and Schuldich was complaining quietly.  The heart and brain monitors went flat as the Schwartz telepath and telekinetic pulled off the electrodes from her body.  The alarm went off and the visiting occupants all awoke with a start.  Wufei, Heero, and Aya all pulled out of their weapons as soon as the alarm rang.  Schwartz was caught before they even took the IV needle out of her arm.  Both Trowa and Shinji were quick to pull out their respective weapons and trained them onto the assassins.

               'Leave her alone,' said Trowa coldly.  Schuldich laughed while Youji, Ken, and Duo all pulled out their weapons.

               'You can't help her,' Nagi said tactly.  Everyone knew it, but they refuse to accept the fact.

               'So what if we can't.  It's not like you can,' retorted Youji.

               'Actually, we can,' said Crawford.

               "Nani?" questioned Ken.

               'We're the ones that made her like this, what proof do you have that we can't restore her?'

               "You're not taking her," said Dorothy in English, seemingly understanding what the others were saying in Japanese.

               "No?"

               "Even if she will never come back, she would never be one of your specimens."

               "Stop us then."  With that, Farfello attacked Aya with his switchblade.  Aya easily parried the attack and Wufei came in to relieve Aya, allowing the red-haired leader to attack his "evil" counterpart.

               Schwartz was greatly outnumbered 8 to 4; Aya and Heero fought Crawford, Youji and Duo fought Schuldich, Ken and Wufei fought Farfello, and Shinji and Trowa fought Nagi.  Ultimately, the assassin group of the dark was unable to beat their opponent even with their powers.  The fight broke off and ended.

               "You win this time, Weiß, but next time, you won't be so lucky," Crawford spat.  "Let's go."

               After Schwartz left, Duo, Ken, and Youji all sank back down into their respective seats.

               "Relena," Heero addressed the pacifist.

               "Yes, Heero?"

               "It's not safe for you to be here.  I want you to go back to the Embassy first thing tomorrow morning."

               Relena laughed.  "I'm always in danger.  Here, I'm not the target.  I'm not the one to be worried about; you should worry about the patient.  Set your priorities straight, would you?" [5]

               Heero beamed.  The mood within the room lightened up considerably.

               "Well, since it seems like none of us can sleep now," said Duo.  "I vote we go to the 24-hour convenience store across the street and get something to eat.  I'm starving!"

               "You're always hungry," noted Wufei.

               "Hey, what can you say, I'm still growing," he joked.  Trowa said nothing.  He understood what Duo was doing.  He was trying to get everyone's mind off of the predicament that their friend was in.  Clearly, Duo was more of a doctor and a mother than people perceive him to be.  In truth, Duo was the most practical out of all of them under that smiling visage of his.

               "Why don't you take Trowa and Shinji with you?" asked Heero.  "We'll stay and look after Quatre and Omi.  Get us something, okay?"

               "Sure!" said Duo.  Then, he proceeded to drag the two protesting boys out of the room and towards the elevators.

~*~*~*~*~

Half an hour later, the trio returned, each holding two bagfuls of food and chatting happily.  There was enough food to last them a week, yet Duo had insisted on buying that much food.  When they got back, they saw that all of their friends had fallen asleep and that Quatre had been taken away.  Trowa and Shinji both dropped their loads and ran into the room.  The monitors had been shut off to prevent the alarm from going.  The IV needle was hanging down beside the bed, blood mingled with the IV dripped down from the needle.

               Shinji hurried next to the fallen leader and shook him, yelling at him to wake up in Japanese.  Trowa meanwhile looked at the sleeping boy on the bed next to the empty one, dazed.  Duo had slumped down to the ground in a heap of self-guilt.

               "It's all my fault; it's all my fault," he muttered repetitively and incoherently.  His eyes were glazed with tears and tears did indeed fall down to his chin, creating a pool in front of him.  Trowa slowly turned to face the braided boy while Shinji had succeeded in waking Aya up.  The taller boy then walked towards the shocked boy and knelt down in front of him, pulling him into an embrace.

               "It's not your fault, Duo," Trowa said softly, trying to calm the hysterical boy.  "No one could've known that Schwartz was going to take Quatre away."

               "It's my fault; it's my fault," Duo continued.  He wasn't acknowledging any of them.  Trowa pulled away and looked sadly at Duo's condition.  A hand was placed on his shoulder and Trowa turned, looking at Heero. [6]

               "Let me," he said softly with kind eyes.  Trowa nodded and left Duo with Heero.

               "Now what?" asked Ken, holding onto his head since he had a major headache.

               "There is nothing we can do but wait," Dorothy said solemnly, sitting down on a chair next to Omi's bed.

               "You can't be serious!" exclaimed Youji.

               "She's right.  Right now, Quatre's best chance is with Schwartz even if we don't want it to be so.  I have a feeling that Schwartz has the power to restore her," said Shinji seriously, sitting down on a chair next to Omi.  He held Omi's left hand in his hands and muttered softly for Quatre's safety.

~*~*~*~*~

The heart monitor beeped slowly with the heartbeat of the comatose girl.  Nagi reflected upon the past that not a year ago, they had done the same thing—that time with the Fujimiya girl.  Now, he looked at the comatose girl in their care and laughed mirthlessly at the parallel between the two events.  Both girls are comatose and both were kidnapped right under Kritiker's noses.  Yet, there were differences.  The girl they have in their care now was to be a specimen for yet another chemical—one that would supposedly bring her powers back.  Nagi pondered about whether she should be here or not.  If he brought her back to the hospital, the other members of Schwartz would be highly displeased with him.  Still, he knew that if he didn't bring her back, he wouldn't be able to see the comatose boy that he was attracted to.

               He bit his bottom lip as he mulled over the possibilities.  He wanted to see Omi again but knew that there was no way to without betraying Schwartz.  Even if he did manage to take the girl back, Schwartz would find him and punish him.

               The door to the room squeaked open, revealing the red-headed telepath in the doorway.

               `What are you thinking about, chibi?` Schuldich asked, walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

               `Can't you just pick it up from my head?` Nagi retorted.

               `Heh, don't feel like it.`  He sat down on the chair next to the white sheeted bed and next to Nagi's own chair.  `She's not doing too well eh?` he asked Nagi telepathically with a hint of sympathy in it.  Nagi looked at the German in surprise.

               `Great Schu-schu's sympathizing with her?  Wow,` Nagi teased.  Schuldich glared at the 16-year-old.

               `Ha ha,` he laughed sarcastically, `just because I'm a bad guy, doesn't mean that I don't get attached to the opponent.`  He looked at the girl with a frown.  `I'm not the cold hearted bastard around here.`  Nagi looked around as if he expected Crawford to pop out of nowhere after that comment.

               `You sure you're not telling Crawford that?`  Schuldich laughed.

               `He's not the telepath.  I am, remember.  Besides, he's too busy talking to the Estes scientists to 'worry about us.`

               `Still-`

               `Just let it go, chibi.`

               `Why are you here anyway?`

               `I want to see her,` he said, pointing at the girl.

               `That can't be all of it.`

               `You're right.  I'm gonna see if I can bring her back.`

               `Isn't that dangerous?  You might get lost in her subconscious and she might be extremely angry at you.`

               `That's why I want you to come too.  We can go together and I know she won't get mad at you.`  He winked.  Nagi blushed.

               `When did you know?`

               `Heh, since the beginning of your friendship.  You weren't shielding yourself very well and you were always thinking so loud then.`  He laughed at Nagi's embarrassment.

               `Gomen.`

               `Ah, it's okay.  I might act like an ass once in a while, but I actually really like the kid.`  Nagi looked at the comatose girl forlornly.  `All right, ready?`  Nagi nodded.  Schuldich held out his hand to Nagi and the telekinetic gladly took it.  Then, Schuldich placed his other hand on Quatre's forehead and closed his eyes.

               What came after that was a blur to Nagi.  He was suddenly pulled out of his body and came to a dark place.

               "Schu, where's this?" his spiritual image asked.

               "It's her subconscious," the telepath's spiritual image said to him.

               "Why is it so dark?"

               "Subconscious is always dark, unlike your consciousness.  It's very easy to get lost in the subconscious because it's dark and plus the fact that it's unfamiliar territory.  That's why comatose people rarely return to consciousness.  Even if they do, it would be a long time without guidance."

               "I see.  So how are we supposed to find her and bring her back?"

               "See there?"  Schuldich pointed at a faint light in the distance.  Nagi frowned.

               "I thought you said that it's always dark in the subconscious?"

               "Use your head, chibi.  It's dark when there's no one around.  Look around us, isn't it a bit brighter than it should be?"

               "Yeah," Nagi noted.  "So you say that she's there?"

               Schuldich rolled his eyes.  "Earth to child prodigy!  I guess you need to get some sleep."

               "Gomen."

               "Ah, it's okay.  Come on.  It's going to be a long walk—the light's too dim."  Then he started walking.  Nagi stood in a daze.

               "Chibi!" came Schuldich's voice from down the street, pulling Nagi out of his thoughts.  "If you don't come, then leave!"  Nagi swore softly and ran down towards Schuldich, blowing a raspberry at the redhead at the same time.

~*~*~*~*~

"Trowa, you do know that if we get caught, we're going to die?" whispered Duo irritated.  Trowa had cajoled him into hacking into the Schwartz's files online, which wasn't really hard for the proclaimed God of Death.  He had successfully hacked into the computer and downloaded the files from Schwartz regarding their location.  Then, Duo had followed Trowa exasperatedly to the Schwartz headquarters, knowing full well that Trowa needed all the help he needed.

               "Shut up, Duo," snarled Trowa.  "If you weren't whispering every five seconds, we might have a better chance finding her."

               "Whatever, Mr. Social.  Besides, you want me to leave now?" retorted Duo.

               "Shut up, you two," came somebody's voice behind them.  Duo jumped in surprise but thankfully, didn't yelp.  They turned and saw three others behind them: Heero, Aya, and Ken.  Heero was obviously the one who had told them to shut up because he had brought a finger up to his lips to signal to them to be quiet.  Trowa nodded and smiled slightly at the others.  He then turned and walked silently down the hallway towards Quatre's room.

               Five minutes later, they finally found her.

               "Trowa," said Aya solemnly, motioning the taller boy to the door.  The window revealed a sleeping person, but did not reveal the two other members occupying the room.  Heero opened the door quietly, thankful that the door did not squeak.  They entered the room and saw Schuldich and Nagi, both sitting in a straight posture in the chairs.  Trowa approached the wheezing girl.  She seemed to have a fever as her face was drenched with sweat.  One of the redhead's hands laid upon the girl's forehead but neither the telepath nor the telekinetic showed any signs that they knew that they were in the room.

               Trowa frowned and reached out to the girl.

               "Trowa, no!" exclaimed Ken, as if realizing something.  However, it was too late.  Trowa touched Quatre's face and the darkness claimed him.

~*~*~*~*~

As they walked down the ominous street strewn with nothing but dark gray cement, they fought the urge to run towards the dim light ahead.  They felt a presence surrounding them and looked about.  Everything was in cement.  The abandoned city had no glass panels upon its building windows and no doors marked the buildings.  Everything was gray and could be easily accessed; her past, her present, even her future.  It was as though her fate had already been decided and she knew it.  Nagi was unnerved by the openness of the city and Schuldich scowled, determined to kill fate the next time he meets the three women.

               "I'm going to put doors and windows next time I come here whether she likes it or not," he muttered.  Nagi looked at the redhead.

               "How?"

               "I don't care.  I'm going to do it.  No one deserves to have his or her fate already set and can't do anything about it.  All this fate crap is getting on my nerves."

               "I'm guessing that's why you hate Crawford that much."

               "That damn asshole thinks that he can control other's lives with his dumb ability to see into the future," he muttered profanely under his breath.  Nagi couldn't help but snicker.  He'd seen many different sides of Schuldich, but this side he hadn't seen before and knew immediately that he would like Schu more if he acted like this more often.

               "Don't bet on seeing this side of me often," said Schuldich, wincing as Nagi's thought shouted in his head.  He brought his hands up to rub at his temples.  "And don't think that loud, chibi!"  Nagi flushed.

               "Gomen!"

               "Just don't do it again, okay?"

               "Hai."

               "We're almost there, see?" Schu said pointing at the ever-so-bright light.  It was considerably brighter than when they had started their "journey."

               They hurried their pace and soon they stood in a plaza with a medieval Japanese palace.  Nagi and Schuldich looked at each other and shrugged.  The palace seemed to be lit by candle lights, but both ob the psychics knew that the lights were not from candles; they were actually dim star lights—the lights of the soul.

               Like all other buildings, the castle had no doors or windows, simply holes in the walls.  The two frowned.

               Suddenly, a bright light appeared between Schuldich and Nagi.  The two stepped back from the light and shielded their eyes.  When the light dimmed, the Heavyarms pilot stood, slightly dazed and confused.  He looked around and saw the two Schwartz members.

               "Kuso," he cursed.  He immediately set himself in an attacking position.  Schuldich laughed.

               "Ne, chibi, kimi ga hoshii to tatakau," {Hey, little one, you want to fight him?} Schu addressed to the young prodigy.

               "Iie," {No}said Nagi listlessly. [7]

               "Nani," said Trowa confused.

               Schu laughed.  "We don't want to fight you.  We're here to help her."  He pointed towards the lit palace.

               "Her?" asked Trowa dumbly.

               "Quatre?" said Schu.  "Duh!"  Trowa frowned.

               "Why would you want to help her?" he asked.

               "Hey, we're not as bad as you think alright?  Geez, give us some credit would ya?" the German said irritated.  Then, he started walking towards the palace with Nagi in tow.

               "Well, are you coming or not?" Schuldich asked, not looking back at the pilot.  Trowa knew he had to follow; the other two seemed to know where they were going after all.

~*~*~*~*~

"Excuse me," Trowa asked softly.  "Where are we going?"  The trio was in the palace, their footsteps echoing through the hallways of wood.  There were no doors, disallowing privacy.

               "Well, duh, we're looking for your friend," Schuldich said mockingly.  Trowa bit his lips, sensing some hostility from the telepath towards him.

               `I'm just irritated at the fact that your friend knows how her life is already planned out,` Schuldich's voice entered his mind.  Trowa nearly jumped when Schuldich "talked" to him.

               `What do you mean 'she already knew'?`

               `Look around you.  What is missing?`  Trowa followed the telepath's instructions and looked around.  Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but he finally noticed it.

               `There are no doors,` Trowa noted.

               `Exactly.  She can literally go into any building and find out what happens say 10 years from now.`

               `How?`

               `Look at the painting beside you,` Schu told him, stopping as he told him and turning to look at the painting.  It was more of a mural than a painting.  The entire wall depicted a section of her life.  It showed a black-haired man and a golden-haired angel.  The angel was clearly a boy.  The man had the angel in his control.  Fear gripped Trowa's heart.  He walked slowly down the corridor to see the following scenes.  The next part was heart-wrenching; the angel's wings were broken by the man and feathers fell, creating a pile of bloodied feathers.  The angel seemed to be restrained by wires.  Trowa's heart thumped loudly in his chest as he watched the cruel scene.  He didn't dare to look at the other scene, knowing full well what was going to happen from the scene before.  In the scene where the angel's wings were broken, there was indication that the man was going to rape the angel as the man had reached into the tunic of his captive while holding the wing in a vice-like grip.  A gagging sound came behind him and he turned.

               Nagi had his hands up to his mouth, trying not to vomit with the progression of the event.  He closed his eyes and sobbed quietly.  Schuldich was next to him supporting the prodigy and cursing like a madman in every single language he knew.

               "Who is the man?" Trowa asked quietly, interrupting Schuldich's cursing.  Schuldich looked into Trowa's eyes as if asking "Do you really want to know?"  Trowa unconsciously nodded.

               Schu sighed.  "The man that is in the mural is Brad Crawford…"  Trowa's eyes widened.

~*~*~*~*~

It had been merely 10 minutes ago when they saw the disturbing mural.  Trowa wanted to find the girl immediately and bring her back.  Then he was going to kill the Schwartz leader.  He moved at a faster pace than before and the others kept up with him.  They looked left and right, but all of the rooms were empty save for future scenes of her life: marriage, work, pregnancy, etc.  Then, they noticed something strange ahead.

               The light was brighter, they noted, towards the end of the hallway.  They squinted their eyes and noticed that there was a door.

               "Nani," Nagi questioned.  'Why would there be a door for that room?'

               'It can only mean one thing,' said Schuldich.

               "Quatre's behind that door," said Trowa.  Schu nodded.

               They ran towards the door and Schuldich reached ahead to touch the doorknob.  A jolt of electricity shot up his arm as soon as he touched it.

               "Schist," he cursed in German.  "The door won't open."

               "Somebody must be blocking," said Trowa.

               "Or something," noted Nagi.  "Perhaps in order to wake her up, she needs to be given the chemical that'll bring her powers back."

               "Maybe, but I doubt that it's the chemical that's blocking us.  The signature on the block is very familiar to me," said Schuldich coldly.

               "What do you mean?" asked Trowa.

               "You can't mean that," said Nagi, gasping as he realized what had happened.  Trowa looked at the two Schwartz members and the same realization hit him.

               "Crawford's already in there."

               "NO!" Trowa screamed.  He rammed the door and electricity raced through his body.  He was thrown back but his spirit was not deterred.  Nagi, with a new found determination, raised his hands up, palms directed towards the door, and sent out a blast of telekinesis.  The wave slammed into the door and the building shook.  Schu didn't do anything; in fact, he can't do a thing.  There were only two people who can break through that barrier, and those two are the diligent boys in front of him.

               Schuldich smiled wistfully and silently cheered the two on.  The two boys had resorted to attacking together and with each attack, the building shook more and more dust fell onto the floor.

               Their work paid off when they heard a distinct crack.

               "One more time," said Trowa, pushing himself.  The two set up for one last attack and finally, the barrier was broken.  They looked into the room and what met them was of their worst fears.

               The room was dark; there was no light at all.  The trio's own spirits gave off some light in her subconscious and they widened their eyes at the scene.  Quatre's distinct platinum gold hair was matted with blood and his ghostly appearance haunted them.  He was clearly unconscious and his chest heaved with ragged breaths.  The kimono that he had been wearing was discarded onto the floor and signs of abuse bruised his delicate skin.  Blood from his tied wrists and the cuts on his body stained the white sheet beneath.  There were blood mingled with the rapist's semen on his inner thighs and they could see that there had been a struggle.  Their hearts were in their throats as they saw the clue that had drenched them with cold water: Brad Crawford's glasses lay broken on the floor in a puddle of blood with red stained feathers. [8]

------

*Hides under a table*  That was nasty of me!  XP  I can't write a rape scene for &@*#.  ^_^  Hope you know that…  Anyways, the rating's gone up considerably… sort of and this is going to be the death of me.  Heh…  I noticed that this chapter is extremely long, but I can't split it up anymore.  If I do, it won't fit the title for the next chapter…  Anyways, I have to study for SAT II this Saturday…  AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!  Gotta go die…  'Til then, Ja!

Sayako

------

Preview points for future chapters:

1. Crawford will die.

2. Omi and Quatre will both wake up simultaneously.

3. Schwartz will be disbanded.

4. Quatre will remain a girl (unless someone wants me to turn her back)

5. Two people will go after her (not saying who… figure it out on your own!)

6. Weiß will return to Koneko no Sumu Ie to work and the two working girls will be greatly surprised.

7. Quatre will use a different name.  (People will freak out if the dead is resurrected…)

8. Everyone will become a Preventer… (very corny…)

------

Notes:

[1] Here's a little snippet of the OC x Quatre I was talking about…  Not too sappy though… (I don't even know if I could write sap…)

[2] My idea about comas.  People in comas can come back if the people close to them have hope.  Hope drives them back to consciousness.  Not a very good explanation is it?

[3] Mixing fiction with reality is not a good thing…

[4] It's a real fic.  I just had to put it in there…  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm just writing my version of what Schuldich might think if he read it.  Gomen, KitsuneSpirit.  I forgot to ask if I could allude to your fic.  I just happened to see it and my brain went nuts as to what the telepath might think about it.

[5] Wow, Relena's actually making sense…  And Heero's outlandishly OOC…  I like to make him this way.  Hee!

[6] Poor Duo, he's in a catatonic state….  Don't worry, he'll return to normal.  He won't go to an asylum, but he will go on a guilt trip…  Heero's being very nice to Duo…  But hey, it's a Heero x Duo thing…  ^^;

[7] I would've added in a "Hell" in front of the "no", but that'll be too OOCish for Nagi, wouldn't it?  ^___^;

[8] DIE, CRAWFORD!!!!!  I hate him!  Sorry to the Crawford-fans…  XP  I'm sorry, but I just had to do that.  I didn't make Farfie the rapist cuz… well, I just don't like Crawford!  T_T


	11. Hope

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kreuz.  Therefore: no suing.

Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  Thanks to all of my readers who have reviewed my fic.  Arigatou gozaimasu!  Anyways, I know it's been a long time since I updated this fic, but between writer's block and summer assignments, it was really hard to get back into the fic.  Gomen nasai!  Well, now that I've uploaded the new chapter, enjoy!

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Chapter 10 – Hope

               With the horror of his beloved threatening to drive him insane, a new found power grew within Trowa's soul.  The light around him glistened and brightened, lighting his environment.  The injured angel seemed to be soothed by his light as his breathing became more normal.

               Schuldich was surprised at Trowa's own powers, and so was Nagi.  They speculated as Trowa walked towards the injured angel.  He seemed possessed as he moved and both Nagi and Schuldich were interested in Trowa's own inner strength.  The tall pilot knelt down next to the bed and laid a hand upon the angel's forehead.  Then, he dropped his head and closed his eyes.  Schuldich and Nagi looked at each other, both clueless as to what Trowa might be doing.

               Suddenly, a flash of white light filled the room, forcing the two Schwartz members to shut their eyes.  Then, just as it came, the light suddenly dimmed to a more comfortable level.  The telepath and the telekinetic opened their eyes and looked at the room.  All traces of impurities had been wiped away.  The angel was healed and seemed well, but he was still sleeping.  The pilot lifted his hand from the younger boy's forehead and stood up, stretching as he did so.

               "What was that?" asked Nagi wondrously.

               "What was what?" asked Trowa, seemingly have forgotten what had happened in the past minute.

               "Apparently, someone has healing powers," noted Schuldich out loud. [1]

               "How?  How come we didn't recognize it before?" asked Nagi with a hint of frustration.

               "His powers were dormant and was hidden away," said Schuldich.  "This event forced him to reveal his powers subconsciously."

               "I see."  Then, a stirring made all three of them turned towards the bed.  Quatre was waking up.  He opened his emerald green eyes and emitted a groan from his throat.  He then sat up and looked around his surroundings.  His eyes were blank of emotions and his face was listless.  Then, his eyes fell onto the three intruders.

               A sign of recognition entered his eyes as he looked at the three in front of him.  He opened his mouth slowly and in a shaky voice, he rasped out, "Trowa?"

               Trowa smiled benignly at Quatre.  "How do you feel?"

               "Terrible," Quatre said, making a funny face.  The tall pilot laughed and even the Schwartz members laughed as well.  "Where am I?" 

               "You're in your own subconscious," answered Schuldich.  "Don't worry.  I'm not the ass of Schwartz.  Our oh-so-great leader is the fucking son of a bitch out of all of us."  The mention of the leader made Quatre blanch.  He whimpered as he remembered what had happened.  Schuldich frowned. [2]

               "Well, we need to get you out of here," Nagi stated quietly and the telepath nodded.

               "I can't leave the room," Quatre said, frowning.

               "What do you mean?" asked Trowa.

               "Can't you see?" he raised one of his wrists and they noticed the chain that had settled around his wrists, his neck, and his ankles.

               "So we do have to get your powers back," noted Schuldich.  "Don't worry, it won't take long.  We just need to bring you back to the hospital first though."  Quatre nodded.

               "Protect yourself from him.  I can only do so much in your subconscious," Trowa told him; they all knew what he meant.  Quatre swallowed and nodded tentatively.

               "We'll get you back as soon as possible," said Nagi.

               "Please do so," he said in a child's voice.  "Thank you."  Then, the three left his subconscious.

~*~*~*~*~

Trowa stumbled back as his mind was seemingly shoved back into his body.  He broke his contact with Quatre and was lucky to have Aya to support him.  The two Schwartz members also regained their consciousness and both broke contact with the comatose girl.  Two clicks revealed the cocking of the pistols that Heero and Duo were both holding, now trained upon the two members of Schwartz.

               "Matte!" {Wait} Trowa shouted.  "They're not bad.  They want to help her."

               "Karera wa Schwartz desu," {They're Schwartz} hissed Ken, his bugnuks trained upon the telepath and the telekinetic as well, even with the knowledge that the two can easily beat them no problem.  Suddenly, Quatre lurched, groaning as she did so in the bed.  Her brainwave fluctuated as expressed in the monitor as if her mind and spirit seemed to have "regained" consciousness, even when the body hasn't.  A sense of peace fell upon the group of opponents and a voice intruded gently into all of their minds.

               `Onegai, Ken-kun, Aya-kun.  Karera ni tasukete yurusu.  Heero, Duo, don't do it.  Let them help,` {Please, Ken, Aya.  Let them help me} the familiar voice spoke in their minds.  Both Aya and Ken drew in a short breath at the sound of their friend.

               "Omi," Aya said waveringly.  He wanted to cry, but knew better and bit his bottom lip.  He coughed slightly and said, "Hai."  Ken nodded at his consent and then they all proceeded to help the comatose girl.  They quickly turned off the monitors, shutting off the medical alarms and then pulled off the electrodes that were attached to her head and her body.  Meanwhile, Nagi busied himself in wrapping the girl up in a sheet such that she would be easy to carry.  He looked at Trowa and the taller man understood.  He walked over to the bed and slung Quatre's body over his shoulder.

               "Ikuyo," {Let's go} Schuldich said and led the way out of the room.  He then scanned the building for Crawford's presence and led the group away from that goddamned bastard. [3]

~*~*~*~*~

"Where are they?" Youji said exasperatedly in English in the hospital room where Quatre was taken from.  Shinji sat next to the empty bed with blank eyes.  The girl that he loved was snatched from under his nose and he couldn't do a thing to stop it.  He sat with a dazed expression etched upon his boyish face.  The ladies sat next to the other bed in which the comatose boy is struggling to wake.  The only other Gundam pilot stood leaning against the doorway in meditation.  They had all agreed to leave the youngest member of Weiß alone until he is able to sort things out.

               "Shh, Youji-kun, you're disturbing the peace in the hospital," Relena reprimanded the older man.  Youji looked shocked and blushed to have the Vice Foreign Minister to be scolding him.  Manx looked at him in surprise and couldn't help but laugh at the playboy's embarrassment much to his chagrin.  Wufei looked at the exchange with amusement.

               "They'll be back soon," Shinji said solemnly.  The four all looked at him.  Wufei didn't bother to look at the emotionally distraught teen.

               "How do you know?" asked Dorothy.  Shinji doesn't answer.  The four looked at each other and shrugged.

~*~*~*~*~

Trowa didn't know how it happened, but suddenly, they were surrounded by Crawford and a group of Estet agents.  Schuldich cursed in German, finally understand that the Estet telepaths had prevented him to detect the Estet agents that would block them and that Crawford would have herded them towards that direction.

               "Give her to me," Crawford demanded.  Schuldich stood in front of Trowa and looked at the leader of Schwartz defiantly, disobeying his orders.  Nagi stood next to Schuldich with his hands poised to use his powers against Crawford and the group of Estet agents behind him.

               "You will never lay a finger on her as long as I'm alive," Schuldich growled.  He reached into his coat pocked and paused, sending a message to the comatose girl. [4]

               `Quatre, brace yourself,` he sent telepathically to her.

               `Why?` she asked.

               `I'm going to give Trowa the substance that will give you your powers back.`

               `Are you sure it's going to work?` she inquired hesitantly.

               `It works.  I swear on my life.`

               `Even on Aya-kun's life?` she said mischievously. [5]

               `How'd you… ah, never mind.  Just make a shield.  I hope you still remember how to do that.`

               `Ha ha,` Quatre laughed sarcastically.  `I wasn't born yesterday.  You know.`

               `Yeah, I know.  Just make it!`

               `Yes, sir.  Mr. mastermind, sir.` [6]

               `Quatre…`

               `All right, I'm making it!`

               Then, Schuldich sent a message to the rest of his companions and they all gave a mental consent.  Crawford looked at the telepath with suspicion, yet the German never flinched under the scrutiny.  He simply smirked at Crawford and as if on cue, Nagi used his telekinesis to send the Estet agents flying down the hallway.  Schuldich then threw the chemical to Trowa, who caught it deftly, and he immediately entered one of the rooms that were unlocked.  He took the cap off of the syringe and jabbed the needle into Quatre's arm, apologizing for hurting her.  Within a half a minute, Quatre stirred without any troubles, but with a giant headache that soon left.

               "Trowa," she whispered tiredly.

               "Nice to see you again," Trowa said soothingly.  Then he turned towards the door.  "You ready?"

               "I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" she took a deep breath, closed her eyes as she did so and then opened them again.  "Let's go."  The door was then suddenly flung open as Ken was slammed into the room by one of the Estet telekinetic.  Quatre set her eyes upon the telekinetic and drew in the emotions of her target.  The telekinetic clutched his heart and writhed under Quatre's powers, which attacked the heart and soul of her target. [7]

               Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  She could feel the emotions flowing through her, warming her entire body.  She smiled genuinely for the first time in a long while and then opened her eyes, ready to manipulate the feelings of her enemies.

               "Om-Quatre.  Daijoubu ka," {Quatre, are you okay?} Ken asked as he regained his balance.

               "Hai!" Quatre answered cheerfully.  "Demo, anata wa ite desu."  {Yes.  But, you're hurt} Ken shrugged.

               "Daijoubu." {It's all right.} Then, he extended the claws from his bugnuk and head out into the battle once again.

               "Let's do it," Quatre said, walking out of the room barefooted.  Trowa followed with his gun in his hand.  The hallway was strewn with fights; the Estet psychics were outnumbering her friends and she scowled.  She closed her eyes and lifted up her arms with her hands directing towards her left and right.  Her face expressed her concentration as she manipulated her own emotions into pained ones and released them to her targets.  The Estet psychics were unprepared for the attack and practically all of them fell onto the floor like flies; only Crawford remained standing after that awesome display of her powers.

               She breathed deeply and opened her eyes, turning her head such that her eyes would lock upon the glassed ones of Crawford.  His gaze was cold and bitter, anger directed towards her and her powers.

               "Give it up, liebchen," Schuldich said with a hint of triumph, "You've lost this game."

               "As long as I live, I will never lose," Crawford said confidently.  Quatre approached him, careful not to step on her enemies, which she regarded with disgust.

               "Really?"  She was approaching him like a predator toying with her prey.

               "Quatre…" Trowa said softly.

               `What in the devil's name are you doing, katzchen?` Schuldich asked telepathically.

               `You'll see,` Quatre answered nonchalantly.  She placed one hand and her head upon her rapist's chest; Crawford didn't even try to step back.

               "Tell me, how are you proposing to win against us?" Quatre asked innocently.

               "By making you a part of Estet," Crawford replied flatly.

               "Do you mean, 'By making me your wife?'"  Crawford stiffened.  Trowa scowled and stepped forward, but Duo grabbed his arm and shook his head.  Trowa thus relented and stayed where he was.

               "What makes you think that?" Crawford asked expressionlessly.  Quatre looked up at his face and he looked down at her.  She leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Because you have a piece of my soul."  Then, she kissed the precognitive suddenly and Crawford's eyes widened as she set loose of her powers, draining his emotions out of his soul and would ultimately, killing him.

               "Yamete!" {Stop!} Nagi shouted out and Quatre broke the kiss before she had stolen all of the precog's emotions.  She spat out her saliva after she broke the kiss and turned towards the telekinetic.

               "Nan desu ka?" {What?} Quatre questioned.

               'Don't kill him.  He doesn't deserve to die,' Nagi said bluntly.  Quatre gave him a quizzical look.  'Death is too good for him,' Nagi explained further.  Quatre pondered and nodded her consent. [8]

               "Lucky for you.  You shall suffer in your own mental prison from now on," she said coldly and then walked away from Crawford's crumpled body on the ground.

~*~*~*~*~

The group then returned to the hospital and upon her stepping into the hospital room, she was smothered with a hug from her friends and mentor.  When the hug broke, she finally saw Shinji, who stood there with a pair of expressionless eyes.

               Quatre smiled at him kindly and he approached her.  Then suddenly, he raised his hand and slapped her across the face.  Everyone in the room stared in shock of what had happened.  Quatre raised a shaking hand and covered her hand bruised cheek and turned to face the older man with tear filled eyes.  She noticed that his eyes were filled with tears as well.

               "Shinji-kun…" Quatre said, shaken by the slap from her friend.

               "Doushite. Doushite." {Why?  Why?} Shinji nearly yelled at her.

               "Nani." {What?} she asked, her voice cracking.

               'Why do you continually to lie to us!?'  This time, he did yell.

               "Mou, Shinji, shizuka ni ne.  Oretachi wa desu," {Hey, Shinji.  Be quiet, huh.  We're in a hospital} Youji said quietly.

               "Watashi…" {I…}

               'You are nothing but a selfish brat!'  Quatre's eyes widened and choked sob were emitted.

               'Yes, I am nothing but a brat!' Quatre shouted back vehemently.  'You will never understand what it was like to be alone at the age of 18, running a corporation.  I wasn't human!' [9] She gasped in air.  The emotional strain is affecting her health.  Shinji looked at Quatre with pity.

               'I don't need your pity.  All I'm asking you is to accept me as who I am.  I'm not perfect.  No one is perfect; that includes you, Shinji-kun,' she was speaking at a normal level now, but she is still taking tons of short breaths.  Trowa looked at her in concern, wondering if the sudden change of getting her powers back is making her vulnerable to emotional strains.  Schuldich narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head.

               "Nani desu ka," {What's going on?} Nagi asked.

               'She's going to kill herself this way,' Schuldich commented.  The three older members of Weiß and the three pilots who understand Japanese all turned to look at him.  Duo simply looked at the exchange between the two teens with concern.

               "Nani," {What?} Ken asked.

               'The emotional strain that she's undergoing is destroying her from within; she's overusing her powers that she had just gotten back.  She should have rested when she had the chance for her body to get used to her empathy.'

               "Shinji, yamete!" {Shinji, stop!} Aya shouted out before either of the teens could say another word.

               "Nande," {Why?} Shinji asked confused.

               'You're killing her.'  Shinji trembled with fear.  He was killing her?  Then, as if to confirm that statement, Quatre coughed and crumpled to the floor with blood on the floor.  Shinji looked down in shock while Trowa hurried over to Quatre's side.

               "Quatre, Quatre.  Are you okay?"  Quatre was unconscious.  Seeing this, Manx's maternal instinct kicked in and she herded everyone out of the room.

               After everyone had left, Trowa carried Quatre and put her on the empty bed, pulling the blankets over her.  Then, believing what Schuldich had said about him being psychic as well, he placed his hands over her chest and concentrated, closing his eyes in the process.  Instantly, his hands began to glow with his powers and sparkles began to surround the person of his affection.  The unconscious girl glowed with Trowa's powers flowing through her, making mends to her injured body.  Finally, he was done and he released the breath that he didn't know that he was holding. [10]

               He opened his eyes to look at the girl, but found that Quatre had changed back.  In the process of healing him, he didn't even know that he was ridding Quatre of the changes that he had taken after he had lost his powers.

               Quatre groaned and opened his eyes.  He looked into Trowa's eyes and smiled weakly.

               "Arigato, Trowa-kun," Quatre said softly.

               "Go to sleep now, Quatre," Trowa said soothingly.  Quatre nodded and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

               Trowa looked at Quatre with loving eyes but suddenly frowned when he heard a groan.  He moved over to Omi's bed.  Omi shifted his position in the bed and Trowa knew that he was waking up, even if his movements were slight.  He immediately rushed out of the room and said.  "Omi's waking up."

               With that simple comment, everyone rushed back into the room in time for Omi to open his eyes and look at each other.  He looked at the people surrounding him with confusion.  Schuldich then realized that comatose people rarely become normal after waking. [11] He then moved towards Omi and motioned Trowa to join him.

               "Omi-chan," Schuldich said softly.  "Oretachi wa anata tasukeru."  Omi looked apprehensively at the two but gave no objection.  Then, Schuldich placed his hand upon Omi's forehead and took Trowa's hand.  Then, they entered Omi's mind, both ready to straighten things out.

               In the hospital room, Wufei was almost going to object when Schuldich offered to help, but Aya stopped.  "Let him help," the red-haired leader said with his heavily accented English.  Wufei grunted with a scowl on his face.  As much as he hates it, he knew that they were the only two who could help.  Then, he suddenly noticed that Nagi was holding onto Omi's hand, but was unaffected by Schuldich's powers.  He suspected that Nagi was shielding himself and he smiled slightly at the show of affection from the Schwartz telekinetic.  He didn't know what had happened when they were rescuing Quatre, but knew that they had gained some allies with Schwartz.

               After what seemed like an hour, Schuldich and Trowa finally pull out of Omi's mind, both exhausted.  Omi opened his eyes and croaked out, "Ohayo, minna-san."  Manx then immediately hugged the once comatose boy and there was much rejoicing. [12] Omi and Nagi looked at each other and Nagi was unsure of whether Omi liked him or not; after all, this Omi hadn't known him in the years when Weiß fought with Schwartz.

               "Nagi-kun ne," Omi asked, uncertain of the name of the brown haired mystery before him.  He was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but not that the flame was going to be destructive to Omi.

               "Hai!" {Yes} Nagi squeaked and blushed.  Omi laughed.  Nagi smiled too.  Then, Omi did the "unthinkable."  He pulled Nagi down for a kiss and the room was suddenly silent.

               "Awww," Relena said childishly, "They're in love!"  She giggled.  Omi and Nagi immediately broke the kiss, both blushing but both still holding onto each other's hand.  The room broke into laughter; even Wufei laughed.

               As the group celebrated over Omi's recovery, Trowa and Shinji both moved over to Quatre's bed and each held one of Quatre's hands.  They looked at Quatre simultaneously and then looked at each other in the same manner.

               "I don't deserve Quatre," Shinji said resignedly.  "Sh-he deserves better.  Love him the way that I did."  Trowa looked at Shinji with admiration.  "If I find out that you aren't treating him well, I know where you live…" [13]

               "Hai," Trowa replied, laughing.  Then, the two smiled at each other and they shook hand upon it.

------

Wow… That took longer than I thought…  And I noticed that I screwed up since the last chapter's previe points were definitely not followed in this chapter…  Oh well…  Anywho, the fic's almost done!  Only the epilogue to go!  And it'll be pretty short…  more dead words… STUPID SATs!!!!!!!!  XPXPXPXP  need to go drown myself in more summer assignments and SAT prep…  R/R plz!

Sayako

------

Notes:

[1] Heh, I wanted Trowa to do something in Quatre's subconscious…  What's a better way than to have him have powers?

[2] There… getting rid of all the "strong" languages against Crawford now…

[3] Me no like Crawford as you might have noticed…  ^^

[4] Yay!!!  Schuschu's good!  hehe

[5] More hints of Schu+Aya in the epilogue…  btw, that pairing was not my idea…

[6] Quatre's way too OOC in this chapter…

[7] Go Quatre!!!!!!!  hehehe

[8] Nagi's so cruel… ^^;

[9] Whoa… emotion overload…

[10] Gah… too much fantasy… working on so many fics at one time is bad…

[11] True fact: comatose people don't recognize their loved ones nor where, when, how, what, why after they wake up.  The miracles are only in Hollywood.  I decided to have it like this so more Schuschu in action…  just for me sister.

[12] Too much Monty Python… bleh…

[13] Awww… poor Shinji-kun.  *huggles my own chara plushie*  hehe!  He's so selfless!!!


	12. Truth Be Told

Leading Double Lives

By: Tsukisamu Sayako

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Weiß Kreuz.  Therefore: no suing.

Author's Notes: This is a GW/WK X-over as you know.  It's set in an AU timeline where GW and WK takes place at the same time.  That's all you need to know for now.

"blah"-regular dialogue

'blah'-Japanese dialogue (translated into English b/c my Japanese is so bad)

{blah}-translation in English for Japanese

~*~*~*~*~-Scene change

Epilogue – Truth Be Told

                "Oy, Quatre-chan, mezameru,"{Oy, Quatre, wake up} Trowa whispered into his love's ear.

                "Neeeeee," Quatre complained as he slept in the hospital bed.  Both Omi and Quatre were still in the hospital for further diagnostics and the analyses were good.  They were able to leave the hospital within the week.  Quatre shifted his position away from his prodding lover.

                "Quatre, wake up!!!!!!!!!" Duo shouted.  Quatre jerked and opened his eyes sleepily.  Duo was up before him???  That was something you don't see everyday.  He yawned and sat up.

                "All right, all right.  I'm up, okay?" he said exasperatedly, yawning as he did so.  He stretched out his arms to get rid of the cramps and rubbed his sleepy eyes.  The former pilots were all in the room as well as Schuldich.

                "It's time for that, eh?" he said.  Schuldich nodded grimly.  Quatre sighed.  "Oh well, I'm definitely not going to get used to that."  The telepath laughed.

                "It's better than accepting your fate, don't you think?"

                "Yup," Quatre agreed.  Then, he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes.  "Just make it quick, please?"

                Schuldich chuckled.  "We'll try."  Then, he placed his right hand upon Quatre's forehead and the Gundam pilots all held hands with each other with Trowa holding onto the telepath's left hand as they entered Quatre's mind to fix his current state.

                Dorothy and Relena looked on with awe.  They admired the way that the five boys would work with each other even when they didn't in the beginning.  Now, it was as if they were of the musketeers that Alexander Dumas had described: "One for all, all for one." [1]

                Within Quatre's own subconscious, Schuldich and Trowa found the place to be much livelier than last time they had visited.  There were movements and it was under daylight.  The telepath found it interesting how giving the man's powers back would change the scenery that much.  As they stood admiring the alive yet abandoned city, Quatre walked out of one of the buildings with sadness as he was to leave his city of subconscious to stay in the realm of consciousness.  His wings were folded neatly behind his back and he walked over to his friends.

                "Do what you must," he said forlornly.  He did love to stay in the city to get away from other people, even if it meant reading what was going to happen in the future.

                "You can't escape your problems by staying in here," Wufei said as if reading Quatre's mind.

                "It's unhealthy for you," Duo added.  Quatre smiled.

                "Yeah, you're right," Quatre said.  "Go ahead."  The group then went to work while Quatre looked on.

                The entire work took approximately one hour as there were a lot of doors to cover and Quatre cannot help them in his subconscious.  Nevertheless, at long last, they finished.

                "Whew, that was tiring," Duo said.  "Sheesh, is all subconscious like this?"

                "Yes," Schuldich said.  "Except for the fact that the doors are locked, unlike his before."  Quatre grinned sheepishly.

                "I don't get it," Heero said.  "How is it that Quatre's fate was open to him?"

                "Most of the psychics already know what was going to happen in their future, that's why they have powers.  They were born with the ability to know their life in order to minimize the use of their powers.  As much as they like using their powers, most would rather keep their powers hidden than to let others know."

                "If they let others know, they would be treated as freaks, right?" said Duo.

                "Exactly.  They don't want the government to be experimenting on them at all.  After all, they are still human," said Trowa.

                "Humans with very special qualities, but humans nonetheless," Quatre added.

                "Now, by hiding his future from him," started Schuldich, "he is now able to make his own decisions.  That's what life is all about."

                "What about Crawford?" asked Trowa.  "Does he already know his future?"

                "No," said Schuldich.  "Our last encounter has made sure of that."

                "You mean…" Quatre trailed off, his eyes widening.

                "Yup."

                "He'll have fun now," Quatre said sarcastically, laughing.  Then, they all left Quatre's subconscious with Quatre taking one last look upon his city before leaving to the realm of consciousness.

~*~*~*~*~

A week after the repair on Quatre's subconscious—if one could call it a repair—the two boys were discharged out of the hospital.  It was a day of much rejoicing and much relaxation as the two boys were finally able to leave the oppressive environment of the hospital even though it was a place of healing.  Quatre sat in Aya's Porsche with much content as the car led the procession of cars towards the Koneko; Omi sat in Youji's car along with the rest of the team.  Trowa and the others were in their own respective cars that followed Aya towards the flower shop.  Trowa wanted Quatre to sit in his car, but Quatre rejected, explaining that he had some things to talk to Aya.

                The entire trip was uneventful and silent as Quatre looked out the window with a forlorn face.

                "Gomen nasai, Aya-kun," {I'm sorry} Quatre said finally after 10 minutes into their 30 minute trip to the shop. [2]

                'What for?' Aya asked even though he already knew what he was talking about.

                'For lying to you guys,' Quatre said rejected.  'It's was selfish of me to keep my secrets away from you guys.'

                'We all have secrets, Quatre,' Aya said.  'I still have some that I haven't told anyone, not even to my sister.'

                'Really?' Quatre looked at the red-head with curiosity.

                "Hai," Aya said softly.

                'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,' Quatre said tentatively.

                'No, it's something that you should know,' Aya said.

                'It has something to do with Schuldich, doesn't it?'

                Aya took his eyes off the road for a moment, looking at Quatre in shock.

                'You knew already, huh?'

                'I've known for a long time.  That's why you hated Crawford so much, right?  It's because Crawford's been using Schuldich to get to you.'

                'Yes.  I met Schuldich long before I came to Weiß, when I was with the Crashers,' confessed Aya.  'We had a mission to infiltrate Rosenkreuz's branch in Tokyo to destroy the place, much like what you guys do with OZ.'

                'Rosenkreuz,' Quatre muttered.  'I remember that place.  My father had sent me to that place when it appeared I couldn't handle my powers.  He didn't know about the terrible things that the doctors do there.  I stayed there for almost a month before my father found another one like me who was more experienced in the psychic plane.' [3]

                'I see.'

                'So how did you come to meet him?'

                'The group split up like we do in every mission, each member of the team was to take care of a sector of the building.  I had the eastern sector and I came upon the telepath.  Of course, his personality was completely different from what it is now.  I still remember him as a withdrawn young man, similar to me at that time.  He didn't attack me like he was instructed to do.  Instead, he had asked me to kill him.  I didn't as you might know and left the building before it blew up, taking him with me.

                'I didn't return to our hideout with the others.  Instead, I checked into a hotel near the Magic Bus Hospital and allowed Schuldich to stay there for the time being.  Then, I went back to the hideout and reported to Queen, our contact from Kritiker.

                'A month passed with me visiting him at the hotel daily.  Being an assassin has its ups with over 1,000,000 yen to spend each month.  We grew close and he became more open to me.  Soon, I left the Crashers group, having been reassigned to Weiß.  On the day I was to leave the Crashers, I went to the hotel to find him gone, leaving a note behind for me.  I still have the note now and I cherish the times I had with him.  It was enough to make me feel human again.' [4]

                'Of course, after he left, you regressed to your stoic, impassive persona once again,' Quatre noted softly.

                'Yes, I did.  When I saw him again, it was Weiß's first encounter with Schwartz and I almost didn't recognize him.  Of course, we knew perfectly well not to show our feelings towards each other when the two group clashes and I saw what being in Schwartz was doing to him.  That was why I never really sought to fight against him in the first place.'

                Quatre smiled tenuously.  'I met Nagi when I was at Rosenkreuz as well.  He, of course, didn't recognize me when we first encountered each other and I never sought to reveal myself to him.  After all, Manx had told me strictly not to tell anyone who I was.  Only she and Birman really know who I was; even Persia, Omi's uncle, didn't see a difference between me and Omi.'  He sighed.  'I feel awful about killing Omi's only family now.'

                A moment of silence passed within the car with Aya not knowing what to say to assuage the younger one's sorrow.

                'Do you think Omi should know?'

                'Know about his true family?'

                Quatre nodded.

                'He should.  He shouldn't be left in the dark forever, like Kritiker did when you had sought to find out about Omi's past.'

                'But I'm afraid he would withdraw.  After all, he did just regain his consciousness.'

                'You are the one to tell him the truth.  You can decide when he should know.  However, he should know before he starts a mission with Weiß; that much I can tell you.'

                "Hai."

                Soon, they were at the Koneko.  Aya-chan and Sakura were in front of the shop after Manx had told them about Weiß's return.  Momoe-san was in the shop, content with herself, unlike the two nervous girls anxious for their friends' return.  As soon as Aya's Porsche pulled up to the shop, the two girls rushed to meet the procession.

                Omi stepped out the car a bit apprehensively, but soon grew accustomed to the noise.

                "Ma," he sighed. "Finally out of that place."  Quatre smiled.  For an 18 year old who had spent practically half of his life in a coma, his English was actually understandable, even with the heavy Japanese accent.

                "Can't imagine spending almost half of my life in the hospital," Duo noted.  "I think I'd go nuts!"

                "You would go nuts if you can't go somewhere in an hour," Heero stated.  Everyone laughed and Duo blushed with embarrassment.  Trowa then turned to Schuldich.

                "What are you going to do now?" he asked the telepath.  The German redhead shrugged.

                "I really don't know."

                "Stay with us," Aya offered.  "Stay with us at the flower shop.  I sure Manx would understand."

                Quatre looked at the leader of Weiß with soft and happy eyes.  Finally, their leader was admitting his love for the German publicly even if the others don't recognize it.

                "Onegai," {Please} Omi added.  'Stay with us.  You can help us battle the girls at the flower shop.'

                'Actually, Omi-chan, I do believe that we'll need to work with more fans at the shop since there's definitely going to be more girls if they join us.'

                Quatre laughed.  It was going to be that way if they all worked together under one roof unless Kritiker could fine them a larger shop.  Meanwhile, Heero is translating everything to Duo, who Quatre knew hates to be left out of the discussion.

                'Not to mention guys too,' Aya-chan giggled.  'We need a bigger place.'

                'I'll ask Manx what she can do.  Though the girls will miss us all terribly,' Shinji said.

                'Not to mention the guys too,' Sakura added.  They all laughed.

                'I'm sure that Kritiker won't mind ex-Schwartz members joining Weiß," said Nagi sarcastically, holding Omi's hand tightly.  Omi gave the telekinetic a reassuring squeeze.

                'They can't do anything,' stated Aya.  'We're the best Kritiker has.'

                'We were known to disobey some of Kritiker's commands since we know that they're withholding information from us at times,' added Ken.

                'Beside, if Kritiker doesn't accept you," offered Heero.  'Join us at the Preventers.'

                'And hut down Crawford in the meantime,' Wufei noted.

                'Keeping a tab on him would be good,' noted Schuldich.

                'I'll even get Kritiker to trace him,' said Quatre softly.

                'Why not,' added Nagi.  'It's not like we have anything else to do.'

                All eyes turned towards Schuldich since he is the ranking "officer" of Schwartz.  Schuldich looked at Nagi and saw Nagi's pleading eyes.  He smiled at Nagi and his eyes brightened.

                'Alright, we'll stay.'

                Both Quatre and Omi smiled brightly and Aya gave a rare smile, looking at the telepath, who returned the smile.

                'So it's settled!' Sakura said cheerfully and she and Youji then both escorted all the boys into the Koneko.  An afternoon of celebration went on and the Koneko was cheerful.  As the sun went down, Shinji walked out of the Koneko to look at the setting sun.  Quatre went into the display room and look at Shinji as Aya-chan walked out towards the younger man.  He smiled at the pair, knowing Aya-chan's affections for the man and the same with Shinji.  He walked back into the kitchen with one single thought: perhaps there is such a thing as true love at first sight.

                The next day, after much rejoicing, Weiß got a message from Manx that Schuldich and Nagi could stay and they were given code names: Schuldich was called Ragdoll [5] and Nagi's code name was Maine Coon [6].  Quatre stayed within Weiß and worked with his friends as they had all moved to be based in Tokyo.  Duo had a lot of trouble in the beginning, but soon learned to speak Japanese even with his heavy American accent.  The empath had dyed his hair brown and wore a pair of brown colored contacts such that one might mistaken him and Omi as twins if not for the different eye color.  Quatre's name in public became Miyazaki Subaru and he changed his codename to Somali as they decided for Omi to take on his original codename Bombay.  No one knew of his being alive and well, not even the Maguanacs, who became the new WEI CEO's bodyguards after they realized they had failed their Master Quatre, much to Iria's chagrin, who insisted that she can take care of herself perfectly.  Later in the year, two other members joined the now designated "third generation" of Weiß.  The older one was named Aguri Kyou, codename Havana [7], and the younger one was called Izumi Sena, codename La Perm [8].  Another contact joined Manx as well as Manx had become more involved in Kritiker since Omi's uncle's death; however, Omi still doesn't know about his family and after the other two had came, Quatre decided to tell him.

                'Omi, I need to talk to you,' Quatre finally said one day gravely.  Omi looked at the younger man seemingly to know already what he was about to said.

                'All right,' Omi said.  'What do want to talk about?'  He sat down at the table in the display shop.  The new flower shop was closed and everyone was out, save for the both of them: Aya and Schuldich were out on a date, so was Youji, who was now dating the vice foreign minister after she had proclaimed her love for him.  At first, Youji was shocked, but when Relena had stated quite seriously that she loved him, he realized that deep in his heart, although she can never replace Asuka, he loved her as well.  That came to put the original Weiß members in a loop when Youji told them as it was very unlike Youji to go for women who were almost 8 years younger than he is. [9]

                That night, Nagi, Sena, Kyou, and Ken were all on a mission much to Nagi's chagrin as Omi wasn't on the mission.  However, Omi was still unable to go on missions since he has to be retrained.  Now with ten members, all of them were able to lead normal lives at night at least half of the week with four to five people taking one mission while the rest take the other mission, if the mission requires that many people.  Thence, some of the times, the men found more free time than they did before.  They began to go out to dinner together and with three hackers within Weiß and help from the Preventers—namely the other Gundam pilots—the group was able to confirm Kritiker's findings before a mission commences in a shorter amount of time, leaving all three of the hackers plenty time of sleep and never missing a class at the nearby Tokyo University, except when they were injured, which was very rarely.

                That night, Quatre sat down at the table across from the person that he had impersonated for more than two years.  He looked at Omi solemnly and began his story: from his very first meeting with Manx to his discovery of Takatori Mamoru.  He paused to let Omi take in all this.  He knew that Omi would not be extremely shocked to find out that he was Takatori Mamoru; after all, he did not meet Takatori Reiji and Quatre had left out the information about the older man's kidnapping when he was 11.  He continued on, giving Omi the truth of his background, down to the assassination of the Takatoris and Aya-kun's revenge against all Takatoris.

                'I had a family?' Omi's voice shook.  Quatre was afraid that he had gone too far.

                "Hai," Quatre said softly.  "Gomen nasai."

                'It's alright,' Omi replied, wiping a tear of happiness from his eyes, knowing that he wasn't an orphan, even if he never met his family before.

                Quatre continued his story, telling Omi about SS, their "last" mission [10], Takatori Saijou [11], Castle Tsukiyono [12], and about the Gundam pilots, telling him even about his own past.

                By the end of his confession, it was already 9—they had closed around 7—and the mood in the flower shop was anything but cheery.  A long moment of silence passed between the two after Quatre finished the confession before Omi spoke up.

                "Arigato, Quatre," Omi said.  Quatre's head snapped up to look at his friend.

                "Naze?" {Why?}

                'It's true that I might be angry at or even hate you for what you had done.  However, I believe that you must have good reason to do it, just like Nagi did.  We all act upon what we believe in; even if I don't know my family, there must be a reason why I don't know them,' Omi said with a smile.  Quatre returned the smile.

                'Arigato,' Quatre whispered.  'Well, I believe your grandfather will want to meet you.  After all, he knew that I wasn't the real Takatori Mamoru the first minute I entered the Castle, but he still told me about the Takatori family.  You should go and visit him in Kanazawa for a week.'

                'I will,' Omi said, nodding.

                The next day, Omi announced to everyone his trip to Kanazawa and Nagi went with him, Aya had wanted to question Quatre about whether Omi was going to stay with Takatori, but Quatre wouldn't answer the question.  He simply said, 'The choice is Omi's.  Right now, he needs to know more than we need him here.'  Aya then understood, turning his attention towards Shinji and his sister, who have, much to the older brother's reluctance, began dating.  The two Fujimiyas often bantered upon each other's love life, only to end in both of them laughing at their foolishness; it was to be something that always startled the oldest member of Weiss, who would constantly mutter, 'I will never understand him.' [13]

                The day after Omi left the flower shop, which was renamed to be Koneko no Hanaya, meaning Kitty's Florist, a mission was given to Weiß to attack the base of an underground group that SS sponsored.  Though weaker than before, SS was still going strong.  It had suspended its expansion into Japan, but now, they were back again.

                'White hunters of the night, eliminate the darkness of tomorrow.'

                'Who's in?' Rex, their new contact, asked.

                'I think we should all go,' Sena suggested.  He knew about SS right after he came to Weiß as he coerced Nagi into telling him, leaving the telekinetic a bit frazzled at times with the teenager's overzealous attitude.  'After all, SS is a dangerous group and we need everyone to undermine its operations.'

                'But you just came back from a mission,' said Quatre.

                'It's not like we don't have a lot of time left on our hands.  Besides, you would need the help,' said Sena.

                'I'm in,' said Schuldich.  Aya nodded as well.

                'I'll go,' Quatre said.  Shinji also gave Rex the sign that he was going as well.

                'I'm in too.  Those SS bastards,' Youji muttered.  Schuldich chuckled and Rex handed Aya the folder.

                'Then I suggest you clear your brain of women tonight, Balinese,' Rex teased.  Youji sputtered and Ken guffawed at Youji's reaction, earning him a death glare from the playboy.  Then, a "game" of cat and mouse began with Youji as the cat and Ken as the yelping mouse, making everyone in the room laugh.  Aya then handed Quatre the folder.

                'Get some more information from the Preventers,' he told the empath.  Quatre nodded and went up to his room, laughing all the while.  As soon as he entered his room, he turned on his computer and logged into the Preventers network.  He looked through his contacts and invited all of his friends into an online chatroom.

                "Everyone, I need to get more information on SS and their current locations," Quatre typed into the computer.

                "I'm on it, Q-man!" Duo's reply appeared in the chatroom.

                "Hn," replied Heero.  Quatre laughed.

                "Thanks," he typed.

                "No sweat," Duo replied.

                "Here's SS's current location in Tokyo," Heero wrote.  Then, Quatre received a mail from Heero and he opened the attachment.

                "From what I'm reading, SS's security's rather slack," Duo said.  I'll save the blueprint on my computer and you can come and pick it up tonight.  The dinner's still on, right?"

                "Yes.  Do you know who the leader of SS is now?" Quatre asked.

                "It's an American who calls himself the Master," Trowa typed.

                "American huh?" Duo typed.

                "Do you think it's Crawford?" Heero asked.

                "It's a possibility," Trowa said.

                "I don't think so.  Schuldich made it clear that he had given Crawford the drug that prohibited him from using his powers," Quatre typed.

                "But, it is possible that Crawford had gotten the antidote for the drug and gotten his powers back," Duo replied.

                "That's a possibility too."

                "What's your assignment?" Heero asked.

                "We're to destroy the new base that SS has established in Tokyo."

                "You think Crawford will be there even if he isn't the leader of SS."

                "I don't know.  But, it is a possibility that with Crawford unable to see the future, they might decide to experiment on him."

                "Yuck," Duo typed.  Quatre smirked.

                "Anyways, I'll see you guys later tonight, all right?"

                "Sure thing, Duo out."

                "Heero out."

                "Be careful, Quatre.  I have a bad feeling about this mission."

                "You should be careful too.  With SS in town, your healing powers would be of great use to them if you fall into their hands."

                "Don't worry."

                "That's the problem.  I'm your little one.  I have to worry."

                "That's fine with me.  I'll see you later."

                "Ja ne."  Then, Quatre logged off and looked into the folder.  The mission details were all correct from what Heero had given him.  However, he had this nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong during the mission.  He picked up the picture that was supposedly the current leader of SS and felt a chill running down his spine; whoever this person is, they were going to hell of a time with him.

                That night, everyone who worked at the flower shop, except for Omi and Nagi who were still in Kanazawa, met up with the Preventers and had dinner at one of the excellent restaurants in Tokyo.  Duo gave Quatre the disk before the dinner started and the night went on smoothly even with the upcoming mission that Weiß was given.  Quatre knew that it was going to be hard, but he knew that it was Weiß's destiny to be up against SS; after all, they were the strongest group that could withstand the power of SS and SS knows it.

                It will always be like this: Weiß vs. SS throughout their existences.

                However, even with this fate, Quatre was relieved of his burdens of lying to his friends about his life.  He had grown apart from his family, but he will never grow apart from his second family: the family of his friends and those who accepted him as a human, not as an heir who will take over a family business, locked away from society.  He is truly at home in Tokyo, not in the colonies.

Owari

------

Does it leave you hanging???  ^^;  Finally… this fic is done!!!  Of course, I think I should write a sequel to this and I'm definitely gonna write a side fic to this regarding Wufei…  ^^;  R/R plz!!!!!!!  Arigato to every single one of my reviewers and thank you for reading and enduring the long waits for next chapters!!!  Arigato gozaimasu!!!

Sayako

------

Preview of possible sequel:

"Quatre-sama," the beaten fortuneteller grasped the empath's ankle and held onto it tightly.  Quatre's heart skipped a beat in fear and he stumbled onto the ground, scuttling away from the man.  "Quatre-kun, tasukete."  Quatre's breathing quickened with fear.  He shook his head silently with tears in his eyes.

                "Tasukete, Quatre-kun…"  Then, Crawford stopped where he was on the ground and Quatre let out a frightened scream.

------

Notes:

[1] There's way too much allusions to other stuff… ^^;  *imagining the pilots as musketeers…* hmm… new fic idea… ^_^;;;

[2] I dunno how far the hospital is from the shop… so I just put it down as 30 minutes… kinda long I know… but I need enough time for Aya and Quatre to talk…  hehe

[3] I perceived Rosenkreuz as a really bad place from what I've heard…  ^^; and I assumed that it's a place for the psychics…  so ya… I made Quatre go there just b/c of his powers

[4] This is for all of the fans who like the Schuldich x Aya pairing…

[5] My sister came up with the cat name… don't blame me…

[6] see above

[7] translated from the official website for Weiß at www.marine-e.co.jp/weib/index.html… ya… I know it's in Japanese, but I used a program and a book on cats to figure out the names…  ^^;

[8] I'm not sure about Sena's codename, but I think it's La Perm according to this book on cats…  ^^;

[9] I admit, I do not like Relena… and Youji's my least favorite character in Weiß, so I paired them up… ^^;  XP

[10] For those who didn't watch the OAV, everyone in Weiß except Ken "died" to make their enemy lower his guard and to make him feel that he has triumphed over Kritiker when he didn't as Weiß discovered their real enemy.  Anyways… they "died" but then reappeared to rescue Manx and Kaori, originally a target for Weiß in the false mission that their real enemy (who happened to be a US army colonel…) gave them…

[11] Takatori Saijou is the head of the Takatoris and is Omi's grandfather.  For more information, go to Aya no Weiß Kreuz Corner and click on Tearless Dolls.

[12] Castle Tsukiyono is located at Kanazawa and is the stronghold of the Takatori family.

[13] Yes… you can definitely see the supposed OOC-ness of Fujimiya Aya… now referred to as Fujimiya Ran since his return to the Koneko.


End file.
